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•Protesters take over streets, vandalise vehicles, attack banks, government buildings
From John Adams Minna
Niger State governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago has imposed a 12 hour curfew (6:00pm-6:00am) across Minna, the state capital.
This follows the take-over of major roads and streets by youths to express their anger over the death of 37 miners while in detention at the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) facility in Minna on Thursday.
The protesting youths took to the streets in their numbers, destroyed buses, mostly government owned transport authority vehicles, attacked banks, business places and All Progressives Congress (APC) offices.
The governor made the pronouncement when the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, accompanied by the Commandant General of the NSCDC, paid him a sympathy visit, at the Government House, Minna on Friday.
Bago told the minister that the mob action that erupted after the death of the miners on Thursday, left the state transport company’s fleet vandalised, Sterling Bank hit, party offices destroyed and private businesses looted.
He warned that vandals were taking over the streets and that immediate action was required to restore law and order.
The curfew, he said, would take effect immediately after Friday prayers to prevent further chaos.
The governor stated that though survivors’ accounts suggested suffocation and dehydration, which led to the death of the miners, preliminary forensic findings showed foam mixed with bloodstains surging from mouths of some of the victims and peeling skin.
He thanked the Commandant General of the Civil Defence for the swift suspension of the former state commandant, who ordered the prolonged detention of so many people without trial, describing the decision as callous and reckless.
He also disclosed that officers on duty ignored the detainees’ screams that they were dying.
He said security forces including the army, police and Department of State Services had already intervened to stop the violence from escalating further.
Bago appealed to residents to exercise restraint, remain patient and keep their children at home while authorities work to establish the facts.
He condemned the destruction of public assets, private property, marketplaces, businesses and schools, describing it ‘as an affront to governance’ and warned that such acts would not be tolerated.
The governor also ordered the immediate suspension of all mining activities, legal and illegal, across the state until soil tests determine whether hazardous substances were present.
Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo expressed the Federal Government’s deep sympathy and assured that the incident would not be allowed to slide.
