NSCDC custody deaths and Nigeria’s detention crisis

Recently, thirty-seven illegal miners were arrested and detained in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna but never came out alive. That grim fact alone demands a thorough reckoning with Nigeria’s detention system and the accountability of agencies entrusted with the custody of lawfully detained citizens.
Whatever offences they were accused of committing, none had been convicted. Their detention could not extinguish their constitutional rights to life and dignity. The circumstances surrounding their deaths must therefore be established independently, transparently and without institutional defensiveness in the ongoing investigations.
The conflict...