By Beatrice Gondyi
Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has offered to fund the education of Yusuf Aliyu, the young Niger State miner whose viral video has sparked widespread outrage across Nigeria.
Atiku made the offer in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Sunday, September 20, 2026, saying he had watched the video repeatedly and that “each time, my heart breaks.”
The former Vice President described Yusuf as “a child with such intelligence, clarity and confidence” who “should be in a classroom building his future—not struggling for survival in a community surrounded by gold but buried in poverty.”
Atiku said he could not look at the boy and see an “illegal miner,” adding: “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 former Vice President specifically appealed for the safety of the young miner, warning that his courage must 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,” Atiku said.
He disclosed that he was prepared to support Yusuf’s education “and ensure that the brilliance we have witnessed is not buried by poverty,” but stressed that any effort to reach the boy must be handled responsibly.
“Any effort to reach him must be handled responsibly through his family and appropriate child-protection channels,” he added.
Atiku said the video raised a question that should trouble the conscience of every Nigerian, asking how a community sitting upon gold could remain so poor that it cannot educate its children.
“How can its wealth leave the soil while hunger and deprivation remain in its homes?” he queried.
Spear News reports that over thirty miners in Niger were recently confirmed dead in NCDSD custody.
The former Vice President described the situation as “an indictment of the Tinubu administration,” noting that the Federal Government controls Nigeria’s mineral resources, yet communities producing that wealth remain without schools, opportunities or protection.
He recalled that Buhari established the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (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,’” Atiku said.
“Buhari saw people to formalise. Tinubu sees poor people to criminalise.”
Atiku said Yusuf’s intelligence “exposes the opportunities it has failed to provide,” his poverty “exposes the injustice of Nigeria’s mining economy,” and his presence at the mining site “exposes an administration that has left brilliant children without a ladder out of deprivation.”
He demanded that the government 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,” he said.
‘I Refuse to Look Away’
Speaking as “a father, a grandfather and a Nigerian,” Atiku said he refused to look away and would continue to speak for these children “because their lives matter, their dreams matter and their future belongs to Nigeria.”
He concluded: “The gold beneath their community should build classrooms and livelihoods, not graves.”
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