By Mahmoud
Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to the viral video of a teenage gold miner, Yusuf Aliyu, whose account has drawn renewed attention to the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State.
Atiku said he had watched Aliyu’s video repeatedly, expressing concern that a child displaying such intelligence, clarity and confidence was working at a mining site instead of being in school.
“I have watched Yusuf Aliyu’s video repeatedly, and each time, my heart breaks,” Atiku said, adding that the teenager should be “in a classroom building his future — not struggling for survival in a community surrounded by gold but buried in poverty.”
The former vice president said Aliyu should not simply be viewed through the description of an “illegal miner,” arguing that the circumstances surrounding children working in mining communities deserve broader attention.
“I cannot look at him and see an ‘illegal miner.’ I see a Nigerian child failed by the country that should have protected him,” Atiku said.
He described the teenager as a reflection of the opportunities that poverty can deny children, saying he saw “brilliance trapped by poverty and enormous promise abandoned by leadership.”
The controversy surrounding the teenager emerged amid widespread public concern over the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners who were detained by the NSCDC following enforcement operations in parts of Niger State.
The NSCDC initially attributed the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak, while survivors and families have raised allegations about the conditions under which the detainees were held. The exact circumstances and cause of the deaths remain subject to investigation.
President Bola Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive investigation, while the Federal Government has suspended NSCDC officers connected with the incident and constituted a 10-member committee to determine what happened and establish responsibility where applicable.
Atiku’s reaction has also shifted attention to the wider socio-economic conditions in mining communities, particularly the circumstances that push children and young people into artisanal mining in search of income for themselves and their families.
The development has renewed calls for greater attention to education, livelihood opportunities and the welfare of vulnerable children in mineral-rich communities, alongside efforts to regulate mining activities and enforce the law.
This version gives you a strong national-daily/newsroom angle without presenting the disputed cause of the 37 deaths as established fact.
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