By Reloaded News Editorial Board
There are some tragedies a country cannot afford to move past too quickly.
The deaths of 37 people in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Niger State are one of them.
The victims were arrested during operations against suspected illegal mining. Whatever offence they may have been suspected of committing, that allegation did not cancel their humanity. They were in the custody of the Nigerian state, and that comes with a responsibility that cannot be negotiated; the state must protect the lives of people placed under its control.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was right to order a full and transparent investigation. The Federal Government has since constituted an independent 10-member committee and suspended the officers connected with the incident pending the outcome of the investigation.
But Nigerians have heard promises of investigations before, what matters now is what the investigation produces.
The country needs the truth, not another official exercise that ends with a report gathering dust somewhere in Abuja.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths must be established clearly. The government has said the investigation will examine the arrests, the condition of the detainees, the conditions in which they were held, the medical attention provided and what happened before their deaths. Those are the right questions to answer.
There should be no attempt to rush ahead of the evidence.
The Niger State government has itself warned against speculation over the cause of death, saying forensic and medical investigations are required to establish what happened. Possible explanations have been raised, including overcrowding and exposure to hazardous substances, but none should be treated as established fact until the investigation says so.
That caution is important, but caution must not become silence. The government must be prepared to tell Nigerians exactly how 37 people could die while in official custody, that is the heart of this matter.
Nigeria has every right to fight illegal mining. The country has every right to arrest people suspected of violating its laws. Illegal mining has consequences for the environment, public revenue and national security, and government enforcement cannot be abandoned because some people may complain about it.
But the enforcement of the law must itself remain within the law.
A government that demands obedience to the law must demonstrate obedience to the law in the way it exercises its own powers.
This is why the incident should not be treated simply as an NSCDC problem. It is a test of the Nigerian security and justice system.
Once a citizen is arrested and taken into custody, the responsibility of the state becomes even greater. That person cannot simply disappear into an institution where nobody is ultimately answerable for his safety.
There must be proper records.
There must be proper medical attention.
There must be adequate detention conditions.
There must be clear lines of responsibility.
And there must be consequences when officers abuse the authority entrusted to them.
The government has already suspended officers. That is an administrative step, not the conclusion of the matter. President Tinubu has made that point himself, saying suspensions must not substitute for determining criminal responsibility where the evidence warrants prosecution.
We agree.
The investigation should therefore be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it leads.
If negligence is established, those responsible should face the law.
If abuse is established, there should be consequences.
If criminal conduct is established, prosecution should follow.
If the evidence clears particular officers, they should not be condemned simply because public anger is understandable.
Justice cannot be built on anger alone. It must be built on facts.
That is also why the public must resist the temptation to turn this tragedy into another political battle.
There will always be people looking for an opportunity to use a national tragedy to attack opponents or defend allies. That should not be the focus.
Thirty-seven Nigerians are dead.
Their families are left to deal with a loss that cannot be repaired by political arguments.
The only worthwhile political question now is whether government institutions will learn from what happened and prevent another tragedy.
There is also a responsibility on the media.
The deaths should not become a headline today and disappear from public attention tomorrow.
The press must follow the investigation.
The names of the victims must not be forgotten.
The findings of the committee must be reported.
If recommendations are made, Nigerians must know whether they are implemented.
And if the investigation fails to answer the central questions, that failure must also be reported.
This is how accountability works.
It is not achieved by outrage for three days. It is achieved by sustained attention until the public gets an answer.
Nigeria is currently asking its security agencies to do more; fight terrorism, tackle kidnapping, confront illegal mining, protect communities and maintain public order.
Those demands are legitimate, but stronger security cannot mean weaker accountability.
In fact, the opposite should be the case.
The greater the power given to an institution, the greater the responsibility to ensure that the power is not abused.
The men and women serving in Nigeria’s security agencies deserve public confidence. But public confidence cannot be demanded. It has to be earned through professionalism, discipline, transparency and respect for the people they are sworn to protect.
That is why this tragedy must become a turning point.
Nigeria must stop treating deaths in custody as isolated incidents that generate temporary outrage and then disappear from national conversation.
There must be stronger oversight of detention facilities. There must be proper documentation of detainees. There must be medical safeguards. There must be clear responsibility for people in custody. And there must be an effective mechanism for detecting abuse or negligence before it becomes a catastrophe.
The fight against illegal mining must continue.
The fight against insecurity must continue.
The authority of the state must be respected.
But the state must also respect the lives of those under its authority.
Nigeria does not have to choose between security and human dignity. A serious country must insist on both.
The 37 deaths in Niger State must therefore not end with suspension letters and official condolences.
The families deserve the truth.
The public deserves accountability.
And the country deserves institutions strong enough to learn from tragedy.
When the state takes a Nigerian into custody, it assumes responsibility for that Nigerian’s life. That responsibility must never be treated as optional.
Reloaded News — NEWS THAT INFORMS. MEDIA THAT TRANSFORMS.
