Adams Oshiomhole, a senator representing Edo North under the All Progressives Congress (APC), has raised serious allegations about the involvement of some military officers and influential figures in illegal mining operations across Nigeria.
Speaking at a recent Senate session, Oshiomhole accused retired military officers and other powerful individuals of facilitating illegal mining activities that have enriched a select few while impoverishing the country.
“Those involved in this illegal mining, they use choppers, they procure arms, exactly the same way our militants were doing in the South-South, they give them arms, they use choppers to cart away the gold and they take them out of this country and make billions of US dollars. And the federal government is not doing what they should be doing,” Oshiomhole revealed.
He added, “Chief of committee chairman of defence staff, tell the defence I said so, that some retired military officers, army officers are involved in it.”
He alleged that these arms are used not only to protect the mining operations and foreign workers, such as Chinese nationals, but also to engage in other criminal activities, including banditry and kidnapping.
“Because these guys have been weaponised by the illegal big men who deployed them, secured territories, the weapon is meant to protect the Chinese and other foreigners who they actually employed to carry out the mining and on occasion, they use the same weapon to carry out banditry, kidnapping and all of the terrible things that are going on.”
Oshiomhole recalled a previous attempt to address the issue during his tenure as APC national chairman, when he wrote to the then-president urging immediate action. According to him, a senior military officer had already warned about the dangerous consequences of unchecked illegal mining operations.
“I took this letter to the former president when I was national chairman of APC and I said ‘call this general to give you more brief’. In fact, what subsequently happened in that part of the country was exactly what the general told me was going to happen,” he said.
The senator did not hold back in calling out the federal government for its perceived inaction, stating that Nigeria’s solid minerals sector is being looted while the nation suffers economically. He also criticised the selective application of justice, suggesting that some individuals, including retired generals and senior officials, appear to be above the law.
“It is not that we don’t know where it is, we have a whole survey of where we have what, across the length and breadth of Nigeria. Even as we are talking now, they are doing those illegal mining and those guys are getting richer when Nigeria is getting poorer.”
Oshiomhole urged the federal government to take decisive action, advocating for the same level of force used to combat illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta to be deployed against illegal mining operations.
Oshiomhole also challenged his fellow senators to move beyond lamentations and push for solutions. He called for the Senate to demand accountability from the executive arm of government and ensure that Nigeria’s solid minerals sector is better regulated.
“We shouldn’t as senators be lamenting. As senators we should fix the problem. We should tell the executive, ‘you must deploy exactly the same force that you deployed against illegal oil bunkering. That same force should be deployed to deal with criminals who are mining (illegally)’. When I say criminals, it can be a retired general, it can be a retired permanent secretary, it can be a retired trade unionist or a retired labour leader. Whoever is involved, they should be dealt with, let Nigeria see that we are not condoning this,” he emphasised.
