Edo North Senator, Adams Oshiomhole recently stirred the hornet’s nest when he revealed that some retired generals were responsible for illegal mining in Nigeria.
His assertion has now been even more corroborated by a senior consultant and public affairs analyst, Abdulsalam Suleiman Izuagbe, who told DAILY POST that the cabal behind illegal mining has overwhelmed host communities.
Oshiomhole, who is the chairman of Senate Committee on Interior, had while speaking when the chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development, Senator Sampson Ekong, submitted his 2025 budget report before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said efforts to diversify Nigeria’s economy would remain a mirage if President Bola Tinubu’s administration failed to address the issue of illegal mining.
“The ongoing illegal mining across the country is being carried out by retired generals and we know them. I did a letter to former President Muhammadu Buhari on the matter when he was in office. This is because a team that I sent to go and conduct the primary somewhere, reported back to me the challenge of conducting primary elections in Zamfara because of the illegal miners,” Oshiomhole said.
Affirming Oshiomhole’s claim, a former Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism in Niger State, Jonathan Vatsa, said illegal mining and banditry are the most lucrative businesses in Northern Nigeria.
Vatsa, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who noted that illegal mining had no economic benefit to Nigeria said it contributes majorly to the persistent insecurity in the North.
He said: “I Am Solidly Behind Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on Illegal Mining. The large-scale illegal mining going on in the country, especially in the north, does not only have the full backing of retired military generals but also political elites and the top business class.
“Both political and traditional leaderships in the north, including the top business class, are fully aware of this illegal but lucrative activity. Nobody who has a conscience and the fear of God will want to fault Oshiomhole over his comment on illegal mining in the country.”
But, a retired Major General Bamidele Olawumi accused Oshiomhole of attempting to recklessly tarnish the image of retired generals with his allegations.
Describing Oshiomhole’s remark as “reckless, baseless, and offensive,” Olawumi said, “As a retired general who has faithfully served this country, I find Senator Oshiomhole’s comments not only false but a direct affront to my person and the legacy of my service. His reckless generalisation has exposed retired generals like myself to unwarranted public scorn and suspicion.”
South Koreans come twice weekly to lift gold from Anka – Izuagbe
Affirming Oshiomole’s claim, Izuagbe said the illegal miners, led by a powerful retired general, have overwhelmed the community where gold is being mined in Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
He told DAILY POST: “The real people that own the land have been overwhelmed because we are dealing with a retired Lieutenant General; they look forward to him to help them whenever they are in need. He and others organized this illegal mining of gold, and on a daily basis the business is serious.
“Initially, we thought he was dealing with Chinese but it was later found out that they are South Koreans. You know they look like Chinese, so people think that they are Chinese.
“They come with choppers twice weekly to lift illegally mined gold from Anker Local Government Area. Bukunyum, Daki Tokwes, and Gumi areas are blessed with a lot of gold that can take care of the needs of Nigeria.
“We don’t have any business borrowing money from the IMF and World Bank or owing international suppliers, Nigeria is supposed to be rich enough not to borrow money from any country.”
Illegal miners inflaming insecurity to carry out their activities
He alleged that those illegal miners caused insecurity in the North region as a diversionary tactic to carry out their illegal activities.
“We are thinking that some of these terrorists are masquerading as kidnappers and bandits. For as long as there is conflict, illegal mining continues because this guy has body guards and has been able to recruit retired Army Captains and Majors to strengthen his back, so nobody is bold enough among the locals to challenge him.
“Anybody coming around there, they see and know him in advance, they know that a stranger is coming. It’s here and not an imaginary story.
“These retired generals manipulate some people here to be fighting among themselves while they are busy loading gold to Korea. What I’m saying is affecting this country; Turji Bello and his associates, Barka and his associates are very busy collecting levies from farmers; each village is given three million depending on the size of the village to pay before they can harvest their foodstuff.
“There are many farmers in Sabon Birni and Bafarawa in Sokoto State that can’t go to farm without paying that levy, if the bandits meet any of the farmers right inside the farm and he is not able to produce the written paper which is usually written in Arabic, they will slaughter him – no negotiation, no discussion – they will just slaughter him as an example to others to pay up in time.
“Some five local governments in Niger State are collecting levies, that is the area where they shot down Nigerian military aircraft that resulted in the death of 22 soldiers and that made the late Chief of Army Staff, Lagabja to visit the place within 24 hours.
“Some people are saying Turji Bello is being assisted from Niger State where they are occupying the military training base in Kotongora, this is true because they have been treated with kid gloves for long and they are feeling so free,” he said.
Silence of communities around illegal mining
The public affairs analyst also stressed that the silence of the community around the illegal mining fields was because they get some form of compensation both from the miners and bandits.
He said: “Those from these communities are getting something, Turji Bello when he came for a burial at Bafarawa about a year ago, the locals wanted to run on sighting him but he called them not to be afraid.
“He told them that this bulletproof car, do they think he was the one who bought it for himself? He told them that he got the BMW bullet proof car from Zamfara people which is worth N300 million and the Hilux pick up he is using was also given to him by the people.
“But others were saying it’s the illegal miners that bought him those things and you can’t give somebody a bulletproof vehicle without supplying him with some riffles, bullets, arms and ammunition. No poor person ever goes into kidnapping and terrorism without being adequately financed and weaponized or equipped.
“The delay in doing the right thing is what has been keeping these bandits. If the US can hit targets in Somalia within 10 days of Trump in office from the African command centre, why is it so difficult for the Nigerian Air Force to know pinpointed targets within the space called Nigeria.
“There are modern technical ways of doing it, technology has made it possible that it’s no longer rocket science to locate an enemy’s position. What was the reason for asking people to attach their NIN to their Sim numbers? I think it was for security reasons to monitor everybody within the systems,” he added.
Curbing illegal mining key to ending banditry, insecurity
Suleiman pointed out that curbing illegal mining activities would go a long way in tackling banditry and general insecurity in the Northern part of Nigeria.
“Curbing the activities of illegal miners will go a long way in finally eliminating banditry in the North. If everything is channeled into the same federal account there will be enough money to fund education, health, and other basic facilities. It will help to reduce operations from where they are recruiting all these boys,” he said.
Illegal mining areas
Apart from Zamfara, Suleiman also disclosed that illegal mining areas are scattered all over Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
“Illegal mining can be traced to Nasarwa states where there are several mines of solid minerals.
“In Abuja, there is illegal mining of nickel used for making coins, coat of arms, and sign posts. Nickel is an important material that is found within the federal capital Territory, FCT,” he told DAILY POST.
How to tackle menace of illegal mining
On his part, a security expert, Steve Obochi Okwori charged the Nigerian government to profile those behind illegal mining and ensure that they are dealt with accordingly.
Speaking with DAILY POST, Okwori said: “I’m aware that we have legal miners, miners that have the license given to them by the Ministry of Solid Minerals meaning that they are licensed to mine.
“It means that the government can identify the people that are mining legally and illegally. What has the government and security agencies done to see how to identify the illegal miners we have in Nigeria?
“Because it behooves on our government and security agents to identify the illegal miners that we have, it’s not for our politicians, ministers, and the government to be making blanket statements saying that the people behind the illegal mining in the North, some of them are retired generals and highly placed people.
“We have a government and security agencies in place and it’s not for them to be giving us excuses, we know how much Nigeria is losing, who are these people carrying out illegal mining?
“Do they have a license but are going extra miles to do what is not contained in their license? Or they don’t have the license at all? These are the questions. It’s now left for the government and security agencies to fish out the people carrying out illegal mining.
“In doing that, nobody should be above the law, anybody arrested carrying out illegal mining in Nigeria should be fished out by security agencies for being unpatriotic, not nationalistic and carting away our natural resources illegally.
“You hear stories where Chinese and other foreigners come into this country and we hear that they are brought in by some highly placed Nigerians that are carrying out illegal mining. I think that the government and security agencies need to step up, they know what to do to identify illegal miners in the country.
“Establish the ones that have the license to carry out mining activities and the ones without the license should be fished out.
“They have records with the Ministry of Solid Minerals on companies with licenses to carry out mining activities in the country.
“The ministry is working in collaboration with the Civil Defense Corps and we have a mining marshal, so they should be able to fish out the illegal miners that we have.”
The security expert also charged the Federal Government to fish out illegal miners sponsoring terrorism in the country.
He said: “Talking about illegal miners sponsoring bandits and terrorism in Nigeria, what we should do as a government and country is to see that these people are fished out no matter how highly placed they are.
“In dealing with this issue, we now categorize those people under the root cause of what we are seeing in this country today. They are already categorized as illegal miners, meaning that they are doing what is wrong, by going ahead to do what is wrong they are adding a touch of banditry activities and terrorism in the same country.
“So, it’s left for the security agencies to establish and I still stand my ground that they should establish if these illegal miners are companies or are they individuals? It’s not beyond them.
“They must establish that these same set of people are involved in illegal mining and they are also involved in sponsoring banditry activities while also carrying out acts of terrorism.
“I have said it times without number that it’s almost difficult for EFCC and NFIU to establish funds that are illegitimate because when money moves from one account to another, it’s difficult because such organizations or companies can say that they are into buying and selling and the proceeds is what they are transferring from one account to another.
“So, it’s difficult to establish these illegitimate funds, that is why these criminal elements are having their way.
“I think that the best way to go is to see that they profile all miners in Nigeria, the ones that have the license should be profiled because they can have these licenses and still indulge in all these illegal activities and criminal acts that we are talking about.
“The government should profile any organization or individual that is involved in mining activities. One of the ways of tackling these activities legal or illegal is within a period of time, maybe within the next six months, they should stop all mining activities in Nigeria, then the government will now begin to look at who are these people that are licensed to carry out mining activities, from there we can now begin to channel our energy and security measures towards those involved in illegal mining.
“There are mining sites that are clearly shown on the map of Nigeria. If you go to the Ministry of Solid Minerals, you will see where mining sites are and when those ones are established that they are carried out by legitimate miners, we will know where illegal mining activities are taking place.”