Nigeria's government has established a 10-member independent panel to probe the deaths of 37 young men found dead in a holding cell in Minna, capital of Niger state (a mineral-rich region in central Nigeria), after being arrested on suspicion of illegal gold-mining by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Survivors described being crammed into an overcrowded, poorly ventilated cell, with one recounting that an unidentified substance was sprayed inside before the door was shut and their cries for help went unanswered. President Bola Tinubu has ordered a full and transparent investigation, 20 NSCDC officers have been suspended, and the panel — which includes a human rights activist, a medical expert, and a miners' representative — has two weeks to report on negligence and misconduct, as grieving families demand justice and violent street protests continue in the city.