{"id":45852,"date":"2026-09-18T11:03:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T09:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=45852"},"modified":"2026-09-18T12:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T10:54:39","slug":"protests-erupt-in-nigeria-after-33-miners-die-in-custody-of-paramilitary-agency","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/protests-erupt-in-nigeria-after-33-miners-die-in-custody-of-paramilitary-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Protests erupt in Nigeria after 33 miners die in custody of paramilitary agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Residents of \u200ba city in central Nigeria took to the streets to \u200cprotest overnight after at least 33 detainees were found dead in the custody of a paramilitary force that raided suspected illegal gold mines.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><em><span class=\"x_spanWithBackgroundColor\">Reuters<\/span><\/em>\u00a0filmed 33 bodies laid out \u200bin a ward at the General Hospital in Minna, the \u200bcapital of Niger State, on Thursday, after they were found \u2060dead in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The \u200bagency said the detainees had been held in raids on suspected illegal \u200bmines on September 15 to 16 in the Wushishi-Lukoto area west of Minna. It initially said a suspected disease outbreak may have been involved in their deaths, but \u200blater said the cause of death had not been established and would \u200bbe determined by medical examinations.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo ordered the immediate suspension of Niger \u200cState&#8217;s \u2060NSCDC, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, pending the outcome of a full investigation.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;It is an unfortunate incident, however, a full investigation will be conducted while the commandant under whose watch this happened remains suspended,&#8221; the Interior Ministry \u200bsaid in a statement.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Anger \u200bover the \u2060deaths sparked protests in Minna on Thursday night, with youths chanting &#8220;Justice must be done&#8221;, according to residents. Some protesters \u200balso damaged vehicles.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":45869,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-45852","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Residents of \u200ba city in central Nigeria took to the streets to \u200cprotest overnight after at least 33 detainees","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45853,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45852\/revisions\/45853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}