A group of security experts in Nigeria has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take immediate action to halt the activities of illegal miners in Zamfara State and other parts of northern Nigeria, citing urgent security concerns.
Briefing newsmen after a one-day retreat in Jos, Plateau state, on Sunday, Dr. Danlami Shehu, Convener, Arewa Patriotic Neighborhood Watch (APNW), and the Assistant Secretary, Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed, said the activities of the miners greatly hamper the efforts of various security agencies at nipping banditry on the board in the north.
The security experts specifically urged President Tinubu to dust the various reports against former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Abdulaziz Yari and “his collaborators”, saying, the current government would make a great progress from the recommendations therein.
“Senator Abdulaziz Yari, right from when he was the Governor of Zamfara State, up till now that he is a serving Senator, has been frequently implicated in reports linking him and other high-level political figures to the illegal gold mining industry in Zamfara, which is considered a major driver of regional banditry”, the experts said.
They argued that, so far the illegal mining business continues in the State, bandits would always have upper hands, saying the Marchants of the illegal activities appear to have strong influence on the bandits, whom they entrust the security of the mining sites to; the situation which they said, makes it difficult for Nigerian security, including the Armed Forces to penetrate.
According to Dr. Shehu, “Illegal mining of gold has been fingered as the main cause of the recent atrocious turn of insecurity in Zamfara State. The federal government, under late President Muhammad Buhari, announced a ban on illegal mining in the state in April 2019, saying there was a ‘strong and glaring nexus between the activities of armed bandits and illicit miners, with both mutually re-enforcing each other’.
“The then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu also issued an order that ‘all foreigners within mining sites are to leave immediately’, as the police launched ‘operation puff-adder’ in the government’s attempt to crush the banditry. Despite Federal Government policy, illegal activities persisted, often under the protection of armed groups who make it impossible for security agencies to penetrate the mining sites.
“The Institute for Security Studies and various reports, both national and international, indicate that the massive banditry in Zamfara is fueled by gold mining, with proceeds often used to buy arms.
“Since the battle for the gold of Zamfara has taken a new turn due to external and internal collaborations to steal state resources, Gold mines are now Blood mines. The gold extracted illegally in Zamfara is transported via flights from forests to Middle Eastern countries, and sometimes to Sudan and Cameroon, to be sold. These are known facts and there are reports which linked Senator Yari to all of these. But why is the federal government turning blind eyes to those reports?
“In 2021, there was a Ghana Gold Report which linked Yari to seized gold bars worth millions of dollars in Ghana. There are other reports, including the one carried out by a serving Member of this 10th House of Representatives. Why is the government not revisiting these, to properly address insecurity in the north?
“In 2022, the ICPC secured an interim order to forfeit 10 properties linked to Senator Yari to the Federal Government, alluding that they were ‘proceeds of corruption stemming from illegal activities’, including that of mining. Even as a sitting Governor, it was in the news everywhere that Yari was always being scrutinized by law enforcement agencies. And when he won senatorial election in 2023, he quickly rushed to court and secured an order restraining EFCC, ICPC and DSS from arresting him.
“But the next month, the DSS arrested and detained him for almost one week. Why has the secret police not told Nigerians their findings? Why the Federal Government not taken up the matter with the view to putting lasting solutions to the insurgencies in the north? Can a single man be more powerful than the government?”
On his pert, Alhaji Ahmed, a native of Zamfara State, lamented that, the activities of illegal miners do not only breed and encourage banditry, it also hampers the health of the locals and cause great economic sabotage to the state and the nation.
He said, “Zamfara State is strangulated by its politics. Its health is disturbed by the ineptitude of its past and present leadership. Over the years its economy is defined by huge illegal mining for gold by the political class, especially Senator Abdulaziz Yari, while the government watched without acting, observing a dark cloud of violence descends on the people by the activities of illegal miners and militias.
“In March 2010, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders warned the world that an estimated 400 children died from lead poisoning in Zamfara. The cause of the poisoning is unsafe mining activities. The mass poisoning affected villagers in three Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Anka, Bukkuyum and Maru.
“Even Senator Yari himself had admitted previously that, over $500 million was generated annually from mining without significant funds entering the state’s coffers. He was able to know this because he leads a very powerful cartel in the illegal mining business which even the current state governor knows.
“Although Yari has always denied these allegations, but the intersection of his governorship, the rise of banditry during his tenure, and the massive illegal mining operations has led to sustained scrutiny. All the time, various security agencies would arrest him and release him the next moment. Nigerians deserve to know what is happening. Our people back home are really suffering the heat from these illegal activities and those of the bandits. But then, they cannot voice out, perhaps, for fear”.
Alhaji Ahmed added that, himself, alongside other notable Comrades from Zamfara, led by a renowned journalist Kadaria Ahmed, had a massive protest in Abuja in 2019, when Yari was rounding up his administration, which got the attention of President Buhari and his wife, Aisha, adding that, even the past administration was aware of the activities of Senator Yari in Zamfara and what gave birth to the operations of bandits under his administration, but yet, nobody could question him.
Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this reports, Senator Yari was not available to respond to these comments, even though, he has severally denied all the allegations as previously reported in the media.
