Niger tragedy: CSOs demand site owner’s identity

Some civil society organisations have called for the arrest and prosecution of the owner of the mining site where 37 suspected illegal miners were arrested before they died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Niger State.

The groups said the investigation into the deaths should not be restricted to the circumstances surrounding the detention of the victims but should also establish who owned and operated the mining site where they were arrested.

The demand followed an allegation by one of the survivors that former military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), owned the mining site.

SaharaReporters, in a report on Friday, quoted one of the survivors, Malam Babawo Tudun Nasera, as claiming that the gold-mining site where the men worked belonged to the former military ruler.

According to the survivor, the NSCDC had earlier asked miners at the site to stop work, but they continued because the person he identified as the owner had instructed them to do so.

When asked who owned the site, Nasera allegedly identified Babangida.

But the former military ruler denied the allegation.

Babangida’s aide, Dr Danladi Abdulhameed, in a statement, described the report linking the former military ruler to the mining operation as “false, baseless and completely without foundation.”

Abdulhameed insisted that Babangida had no connection with the mine.

However, two CSOs demanded that those behind the illegal mining site should not be shielded from the ongoing investigation.

Speaking with Sunday PUNCH on Saturday, the Executive Director of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, said the investigation should unravel those behind the illegal mining site.

He said, “It is not only the owner of the mining site that should be arrested and prosecuted; those who were supposed to monitor the operations but did not do so should also be fished out and prosecuted.

“Those who are engaging in illegal mining must be stopped at all costs because they are milking Nigeria dry. The government should treat illegal miners the same way it treats oil thieves, so that at the end of the day, Nigeria will be better for it. Anybody who engages in illegal mining is an economic saboteur and should be treated as such.”

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Also speaking, the Team Lead of a civic tech organisation, Urban Alert, Anthony Adejuwon, said the first task of those investigating the incident should be to establish the identities of those behind the activities at the illegal mining site.

He added that where the area had been licensed to a company, the firm should be held accountable for any violation in line with the Mining Act and relevant regulations.

Adejuwon stressed the need for miners to obtain the appropriate licences for their activities, noting that an exploration licence could not be used to conduct activities requiring a mining lease.

He called for stricter enforcement of mining laws across the country to protect the sanctity of the law and ensure that mining activities were carried out in accordance with established regulations.

When Sunday PUNCH contacted the state government to confirm the owner of the site, the Commissioner for Information, Obed Nana, did not respond to calls and messages sent to him by our correspondent.

The spokesman for the NSCDC, Rabiu Muti, said the corps did not know the actual owner of the land.

However, a security source said many prominent Niger State indigenes owned pieces of land where gold and other precious stones are mined in the state.

He linked the continued activities of illegal miners to the persistence of insecurity in the country, saying the exploitation of mineral resources in unregulated areas was fuelling criminal activities.

The source said this explained why banditry had remained difficult to eradicate.

“The illegal mining of gold in Minna is the pastime of many rich and powerful men in Minna and other local government areas in Niger State. They will not accept ownership of the illegal mining sites, but the Federal Government should come in and address this matter, especially if they want to end banditry in the North,” the source added.

Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has urged four United Nations Special Rapporteurs to urgently intervene in the incident.

In an appeal dated September 18 and signed by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said, “The UN should demand answers from the Nigerian authorities and ensure that the truth about the deaths of the 37 persons in NSCDC custody and the reported use of lethal force against protesters in Minna is established.

“Every death or serious injury in police custody ought to be promptly, thoroughly, independently, impartially, transparently, and effectively investigated, and perpetrators identified and brought to justice. Any loss of life that results from the excessive use of force without strict compliance with the international human rights standards, including necessity and proportionality, is an arbitrary deprivation of life and therefore illegal.”