33 Suspected Illegal Miners Die in NSCDC Custody in Niger State How can 30 people or even a fraction of that number be locked inside a detention facility and allowed to die without immediate intervention? Was nobody watching them? Were there no guards conducting routine checks? When did they become critically ill, and why was medical assistance apparently not provided quickly enough? These are basic questions that the authorities must answer publicly. A claim of a suspected disease outbreak cannot by itself explain how detainees under state custody could die in such numbers. The authorities owe the families and the people of Niger State more than condolences and assurances. They owe them answers, evidence and accountability. The deaths must be independently and thoroughly investigated, including the condition of the detainees when they were arrested, what they ate or were exposed to, the detention conditions, the medical response and the exact timeline of events.