The Coalition of Arewa Youth Consultative Movement (CAYCM) has exonerated the Commander General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Professor Ahmed Abubakar Audi, over the tragic death of 37 persons in NSCDC custody in Minna, Niger State, describing calls for a total overhaul of the Corps as mischievous and targeted at the Commander General.
The coalition stated this in a press statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, jointly signed by its National Coordinator, Dr. Bilal Galadima and Deputy Secretary General, Barr. Zainab Gambo,
The group, which is the umbrella body of 76 youths groups across the 19 Northern States and the FCT, said it monitored all sittings and studied the final report of the Independent Investigation Committee chaired by Mr. Jonathan Kure, former Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), which was presented to the Minister of Interior on October 27, 2026.
According to the report, 37 persons died on September 17, 2026, from environmental asphyxia caused by severe overcrowding, poor ventilation, heat stress and dehydration after being confined in a detention cell measuring barely 20 square metres but holding over 50 persons in the Niger State Command.
The coalition noted that the report was unambiguous that the operation that led to the arrest of the miners in M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto was carried out by the Niger State Commandant without any operational order, knowledge or approval from the NSCDC National Headquarters.
“The Committee’s findings never indicted the Commander General. Prof. Audi is a workaholic and reform-driven leader who has transformed the NSCDC into a world-class security outfit. It will be unjust to use a state-level operational failure to call for his removal,” the statement said.
The group dissociated itself from a statement credited to a member of the committee calling for the total overhaul of the NSCDC structure over the incident.
“Our attention has been drawn to an imported statement by a member of the committee suggesting that the entire NSCDC structure be overhauled. We wish to state categorically that such a statement is mischievous, reckless, diversionary and targeted only at smearing the hard-earned reputation of the Commander General, even though the acknowledged lapses were clearly at the state level,” the coalition said.
“How can a localized, unauthorized operation by a State Command that lacked approval from the National Headquarters be used as justification to call for overhauling the entire national structure? This is not reform; it is a hatchet job for selfish interests. What the Corps needs is not destructive overhaul, but constructive funding,” it added.
The coalition demanded full implementation of the committee’s recommendations, including sanction, dismissal and prosecution of all officers found culpable.
In its core demand, the group called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly to approve a special intervention fund and massive budgetary increase for the NSCDC, noting that the autopsy and committee report both revealed that the miners died due to poor ventilation and inefficient detention facilities.
“This is a clear sign of infrastructural deficit, not leadership failure at the national level. A well-funded NSCDC is a safer Nigeria,” the group stressed.
The Arewa youths also issued a stern warning to those attempting to politicize the tragedy.
“We have observed clandestine moves by some personalities to use this tragedy to achieve their selfish goal of getting the Commander General indicted. We shall not hesitate to expose, unmask and publicly call out any personality or group that attempts to politicize this tragedy for selfish ends,” the statement warned.
The group commiserated with families of the deceased, supported the N1.4 billion compensation recommended for victims and their families, and passed a resounding vote of confidence on Prof. Audi, urging President Tinubu to sustain his reform agenda for the Corps.