The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called for a transparent investigation into the deaths of 37 miners in Niger State, declaring that the lives of poor Nigerians must not be treated as disposable.

The oppositeion party also called for proper identification and compensation for the families.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC demanded independent “autopsies, the publication of the victims’ identities and detention records, compensation for their families, and the prosecution of every official responsible for their deaths.

“Thirty-seven Nigerians entered government custody alive. Their families are now being asked to receive their bodies. This is an indictment on this government about the value of the average Nigerian life. Low income Nigerians are not disposable, and no Nigerian should lose his or her life simply because they were arrested while struggling to survive,” the party said.

The ADC expressed its condolences to the families of the deceased and insisted that their arrest during raids on mining sites did not extinguish their constitutional rights to life, dignity and due process.

“We must be clear: poverty is not a capital offence. Unemployment is not a death sentence. No accusation, whatever the case, gives any government institution the right to return citizens to their families in body bags,” the party said.

ADC said the incident cannot be separated from the cost-of-living and unemployment crises that have pushed millions of Nigerians into desperate and dangerous means of survival.

“The same APC-led federal government that has failed to provide jobs is now criminalising the desperation created by its own policies. Food Is unaffordable, transportation has become a luxury, businesses are closing and legitimate opportunities are disappearing. Yet, rather than confront these failures, the government continues to punish the victims of its failures,” the party said.

The ADC also accused the government of arresting poor miners while failing to expose and prosecute the powerful interests behind illegal mining and the criminal networks connected to it.

“The poor are arrested for digging to survive, while the powerful men who finance illegal mining, sponsor insecurity and cart away Nigeria’s mineral wealth remain beyond the reach of the law. The Tinubu administration has made honest work scarce, survival expensive and insecurity profitable,” it said. (Daily Trust)