The panel commissioned to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death, in confinement, of the alleged illegal miners which occurred in Minna in September this year has submitted its report.
It will be recalled that the committee chaired by Jonathan Yisa, a former deputy director- general of the Department of State Services, had earlier asked for a 2-week extension in order to do a thorough work which was granted.
Presenting an executive summary of the 65 page report Tuesday, Yisa stated in very clear terms that the Committee was able to establish through available and forensic evidence that “the fatalities resulted from environmental asphyxia and acute respiratory failure caused by prolonged confinement in a severely overcrowded and poorly ventilated detention cell aggravated by distress and dehydration.”
The Committee Chairman dismissed insinuations being peddled in some quarters suggesting that the deaths may have ben caused by disease outbreak.
Shedding light on how it carried out the assignment, the former deputy director general of the State Security Services, said, athe Committee reviewed medical, documentary and physical evidence, assessed compliance with applicable laws and detention standards and determined both individual and institutional responsiblities.”
In addition he disclosed that “29 out of the 41 survivors were interviewed, including 9 minors.”
The Committee, he said, concluded that “the incident was a preventable custodial tragedy caused by severe overcrowding, unlawful and unsuitable detention conditions, failure of duty of care, disregard of repeated distress warnings, inadequate supervision and wider systemic deficiencies.”