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The head of the security agency in Niger state had been suspended on Friday. “Any attempt to destroy or conceal evidence, intimidate witnesses or obstruct the investigation will be treated as a serious offense,” interior minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said in a statement. In 2025, the National Human Rights Commission said it received 371,622 complaints of rights violations, including unlawful arrest and detention, denial of justice and torture. “It raises serious questions about detention standards, operational planning, accountability and respect for due process,” Kehinde Giwa, a security analyst at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence, said about the deaths of the suspects. “Even when arrests are lawful, suspects must be kept in safe conditions and given timely medical attention.” Saba Usman alleged that his son Usman Whalid, who was a student and did menial work to survive, was mistreated while in custody before he died. “When I saw him, he was really in a bad shape because he was beaten and was (stepped) on with boots, so I knew they really mistreated him while he was in their custody,” he said. “I even have his videos and pictures on my phone of how he was being stepped on, and how his mouth was also stepped on and his teeth broken,” he added. ABUJA,