Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said on Sunday that every time he sees a viral video of Yusuf Aliyu, a teenage artisanal miner, speaking at a mining site in Niger State after the deaths of 37 miners there, his heart breaks.
In a statement shared on his X handle, Atiku said he was ready to support the boy’s education, calling him a child whose intelligence and confidence ought to be developed in a classroom instead of at a mining site.
“I have watched Yusuf Aliyu’s video repeatedly, and each time, my heart breaks. A child with such intelligence, clarity, and confidence should be in a classroom building his future—not struggling for survival in a community surrounded by gold but buried in poverty.
“I cannot look at him and see an ‘illegal miner.’ I see a Nigerian child failed by the country that should have protected him. I see brilliance trapped by poverty and enormous promise abandoned by leadership,” the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate said.
Atiku also appealed for the boy’s safety, warning that his public statements should not expose him or his family to intimidation or retaliation.
“I appeal specifically for his safety. His courage must not expose him or his family to intimidation or retaliation. I am prepared to support his education and ensure that the brilliance we have witnessed is not buried by poverty,” Atiku said.
“Any effort to reach him must be handled responsibly through his family and appropriate child-protection channels.”
The teenager, in a video shared online with News Central Television, claimed that members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps had been firing at miners at a gold mining site in Niger State.
He also challenged the NSCDC’s earlier claim that the deaths of suspected illegal miners in its custody were caused by a disease outbreak.
“We are under 18, and we are not allowed to be taken inside a cell. Heat cannot kill a gold miner.
“We are not into illegal mining. The Niger State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps doesn’t have the right to shoot at us.
“We are not illiterate. We are educated. We do this to help our parents in one or two. Our parents are very poor. We are the ones feeding our parents. It is what we do here that we can pay our school fees,” the teenager said.
Atiku stated that the boy’s account raised questions about poverty and the management of Nigeria’s mineral resources.
“But this video raises a question that should trouble the conscience of every Nigerian: how can a community sitting upon gold remain so poor that it cannot educate its children? How can its wealth leave the soil while hunger and deprivation remain in its homes?”
“This is an indictment of the Tinubu administration. The Federal Government controls Nigeria’s mineral resources, yet the communities producing that wealth remain without schools, opportunities, or protection.”
Atiku additionally took aim at how the Tinubu administration has dealt with artisanal miners, drawing a contrast with the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative that was set up during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
“The contrast is revealing. President Buhari established PAGMI to register, train, and integrate artisanal miners into the formal economy, with Niger State included among its intervention states. Tinubu inherited that framework but has met these vulnerable citizens with raids, detention, and the label ‘illegal miners.’”
“Buhari saw people formalize. Tinubu sees poor people to criminalize.”
The former vice president added, “This boy is evidence against the Tinubu government. His intelligence exposes the opportunities it has failed to provide. His poverty exposes the injustice of Nigeria’s mining economy. His presence at that site exposes an administration that has left brilliant children without a ladder out of deprivation.”
He urged the Federal Government to explain the status of PAGMI in Niger State and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in NSCDC custody.
“The government must explain what became of PAGMI in Niger State and how 37 Nigerians died in the custody of a federal agency. Calling them ‘illegal miners’ cannot erase their humanity or excuse their deaths.”
The deaths took place following the arrest of suspected illegal miners during NSCDC operations in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Niger State on September 15 and 16.
Initially, the NSCDC blamed the deaths on a suspected disease outbreak, but survivors claimed that overcrowding, poor ventilation, heat, and dehydration played a role in the fatalities.
The exact cause of death is yet to be determined. A 10-member independent committee has been set up by the Federal Government to investigate the deaths, covering the circumstances of the arrests and detention as well as the cause of death.
Similarly, the Niger State Government has established a committee of inquiry, and the police are also looking into the incident.
Atiku concluded, “As a father, a grandfather, and a Nigerian, I refuse to look away. I will continue to speak for these children because their lives matter, their dreams matter, and their future belongs to Nigeria.
“The gold beneath their community should build classrooms and livelihoods, not graves.”
