By: OrePulse

Three more officers of Nigeria's Security and Civil Defense Corps have been suspended, and the agency has imposed three days of half-mast mourning after illegal mining suspects died while held in its custody in Niger State.

NSCDC spokesperson Babawale Afolabi announced the suspensions and the mourning order on Sunday in Abuja. The move is the latest response from the security agency amid mounting scrutiny of the deaths.

Twenty-one NSCDC officers and men had already been suspended in an earlier round. They were called to appear at the corps' headquarters in Abuja, after the in-custody deaths of no fewer than 30 illegal mining suspects were first reported. The three new suspensions bring the total to at least 24 NSCDC personnel now implicated in the case.

Afolabi said Commandant General Ahmed Audi ordered the mourning period as a formal show of institutional remorse and disapproval over the deaths. Audi described the gesture as a way to express collective grief within the corps and reaffirm its determination to remove wrongdoing from its ranks.

All suspended and arrested officers will face further inquiry and possible prosecution through a presidential independent investigation committee and other panels, Audi said, according to Afolabi.

Separately, Nigeria's Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, created a 10-member independent panel that will look into how the miners died in custody. The developments leave the case under review by several bodies at once: a presidential committee weighing the suspended personnel's conduct, the interior ministry's newly formed panel investigating the deaths themselves, and the corps' own internal re-evaluation.

Audi described the NSCDC as an institution anchored in integrity, professionalism and discipline, and reaffirmed the corps' commitment to upholding the rule of law. He stressed that the agency would not tolerate misconduct by individual officers.

"We do not condone unprofessional conduct, high-handedness or any action that undermines the fundamental rights of citizens or the sacred trust reposed in us," Audi said.

He pledged that the corps' leadership would continue informing the public as the investigations progress. "The leadership of the NSCDC will continue to show unwavering commitment to transparency, human rights protection and professional ethics," he said.

Audi thanked Nigerians for their patience and understanding as the corps carries out its internal review into the deaths.