A government investigation into the deaths of detainees held by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State has revealed the identities of 33 victims, including an 11-year-old boy and two children aged 12.
The names were contained in a register prepared by an Independent Investigative Committee examining the incident at the NSCDC detention facility in Minna. The committee is headed by former Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services, Jonathan Kure.
The document provides details of the deceased, including their ages, dates of arrest, identification records, medical examination details and burial status.
The youngest victim identified in the register was Uzaifa Aliyu, 11. The other children aged 12 were Abdulsalam Samaila, popularly known as Ismail, and Mohammad Sani Nasir.
The committee said it established the identities of the deceased using detention records, arrest registers and witness accounts.
According to the register, the deaths were recorded between September 16 and 17, 2026, with all 33 individuals held at the Niger State NSCDC Command facility.
In its broader findings, the panel attributed the deaths to acute hypoxic respiratory failure, a condition associated with insufficient oxygen, describing the circumstances as environmental asphyxia worsened by heat exposure and dehydration in an overcrowded cell.
However, the records did not establish a definite cause of death for most of the victims.
Only three detainees had environmental asphyxia listed as a provisional cause of death. They were Emmanuel Emeka, 25; Kabiru Suleiman, whose age was recorded as between 14 and 16; and Idris Haruna, 30.
Emeka was arrested on September 12, while Suleiman and Haruna were taken into custody on September 16.
The records showed that post-mortem examinations were conducted on the three men on September 21. Their status was still listed as being in the morgue.
For the remaining 30 victims, no post-mortem examinations were conducted, leaving their individual causes of death undetermined. The register indicated that they had been buried.
Full list of the 33 deceased detainees
The following names and details were extracted from the committee’s register:
Emmanuel Emeka, 25: Arrested September 12, 2026. His father, Emmanuel Onyenaucheya, was listed for identification. A DNA sample was collected, and a post-mortem examination was conducted on September 21. Provisional cause of death: environmental asphyxia. Status: in the morgue.
Kabiru Suleiman, 14–16: Arrested September 16, 2026. His cousin, Isiaku Usman, was listed for identification. A DNA sample was collected, and a post-mortem examination took place on September 21. Provisional cause of death: environmental asphyxia. Status: in the morgue.
Idris Haruna, 30: Arrested September 16, 2026. Initially entered in the records as “John Doe”, he was later identified through arrest and detention documents. A DNA sample was collected, but no reference sample was available. Post-mortem examination: September 21. Provisional cause of death: environmental asphyxia. Status: in the morgue.
Mu’awiya Abdulkareem, 23: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Abdulkareem Mami, was listed for identification, and he was visually identified. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Sani Yakubu (Isiyaku), 25: Arrested September 16, 2026. His uncle, Usman Adamu, was listed for identification. He was visually identified, but no post-mortem examination was performed. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Safiyanu Abdullahi, 24: Arrested September 16, 2026. His brother, Umar Jubril, was listed for identification. He was visually identified. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Safiyanu Abubakar, 16: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Samaila Umar, was listed for identification. He was visually identified. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Ibrahim Sani (Salihu), 17: Arrested September 15, 2026. His father, Sani Danbauchi, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Abdulsalam Samaila (Ismail), 12: Arrested September 15, 2026. His father, Samaila Suleiman, was listed for identification. He was visually identified. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Fahad Sa’adu, 16: Arrested September 15, 2026. His father, Sa’adu Mohammed, was listed for identification. He was visually identified. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Ahmad Aliyu, 19: Arrested September 15, 2026. His uncle, Umar Abdullahi, was listed for identification. He was visually identified. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Safiyu Abdullahi Lado, 18: Arrested September 16, 2026. His Islamic teacher, Khamisu Mallam Hassan, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Suleiman Lawal, 15: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Lawal Mohammed, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Usman Abdullahi, 18: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Abdullahi Usman, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Ibrahim Musa, 17: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Musa Aliyu, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Abubakar Musa, 17: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Musa Aliyu, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Abdullahi Mudassir, 19: Arrested September 16, 2026. His brother, Abubakar Buhari, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Samuel Philip Sambo, 18: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Philip Sambo, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Yusuf Nasir, 17: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Nasir Mohammed, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Mohammad Sani Nasir, 12: Arrested September 15, 2026. His father was recorded as Husseini Mohammed, although an emirate list reportedly gave his mother’s name as Aisha Nasiru. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Abdulbari Suleiman, 16: Arrested September 16, 2026. His brother, Abdulrahman Sani, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Isiya Hamisu, 22: Arrested September 16, 2026. His brother, Abdullahi Aliyu, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Usman Ibrahim, 20: Arrested September 16, 2026. His uncle, Sani Idris, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Suleiman Dantala, 23: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father, Dantala Tanko, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Sani Taminu, 20: Arrested September 16, 2026. His father was identified in the records as Tanimu Garba. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Uzaifa Aliyu, 11: Arrested September 15, 2026. His mother, Rashida Aliyu, was listed for identification. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Abubakar Naibi, 57: Arrested September 15, 2026. No identifying relative was listed. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Abdullahi Abubakar, 15: Arrested September 16, 2026. No identifying relative was listed. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Bisalla Adamu, 17: Arrested September 16, 2026. No identifying relative was listed. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Sani Isyaku, 18: Arrested September 16, 2026. No identifying relative was listed. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Musa Ibrahim, 18: Arrested September 16, 2026. No identifying relative was listed. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Idris Bashir, 25: Arrested September 16, 2026. No identifying relative was listed. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.
Usman Haruna, 18: Arrested September 16, 2026. No identifying relative was listed. No post-mortem examination was conducted. Cause of death: undetermined. Status: buried.