Why illegal mining has persisted in Nigeria – Martin Onovo

…Doubts if INEC will be fair to opposition parties in 2027

By Daniel Kanu

Activist, petroleum engineer and the 2015 presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Martin Onovo, in this interview with Sunday Sun, looks at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Presidency, advising on what should be done to end illegal mining in the country,  among other sundry issues. Excerpt:

There are insinuations that insecurity in most parts of the North, for instance, Zamfara is a cover for those in illegal mining business. Do you share in this view?

Thanks for this very sensitive question. The truth is that insecurity is not just a cover; it is the primary enabler, a condition precedent for illegal mining. Insightfully, illegal mining necessarily creates insecurity upfront. To gain control of a mining area, the original inhabitants must be displaced. When Nigeria started the NLNG project, the Finima people in Bonny had to be relocated to new Finima. That was done officially. In the case of illegal miners, they cannot relocate original inhabitants officially. So, they use terrorism and banditry to displace the people. Clearly, insecurity in illegal mining areas is orchestrated by illegal miners. In addition, there is the conflict between Hausas who are mostly farmers and Fulani herdsmen. This conflict was initiated by Fulani herdsmen grazing their cattle on Hausa farms. So, the insecurity you see is a device orchestrated to create the access they need for their thriving illegal business.

In the Niger Delta region, security agencies are bombing/burning illegal refinery camps, why is the government not doing the same by burning illegal mining sites? Does such not amount to hypocrisy?

We cannot speak for the ad hoc Jagaban Tinubu regime. First, the regime lacks moral authority. Second, the illegal miners have foreign partners that have provided the fire power to them that may be superior to what is available in the Niger Delta. Remember that our military jet was shot down in Zamfara State and our military helicopter was shot down in Niger State. Third, bombing illegal refineries is contributing to pollution in the Niger Delta region and bombing illegal mining sites may create pollution and safety hazards due to the storage of explosives in mining sites. When the regime decides to take back the mining areas, we are sure that the military can develop appropriate strategies and plans to take back the mining areas. The Nigerian government knows what to do if they genuinely desire to take back all minning sites.

Would you support such measures, I mean, equally bombing illegal mining sites to be applied in the North?

We must take back control of all our mining areas. The military can develop and implement appropriate plans to take back control of all our mining areas. The challenge here is the lack of political will and the lack of leadership capacity.

As an energy expert, are there different laws guiding extraction of oil and that of solid mineral, which perhaps, stops security agents from bombing illegal mining sites like in the case of oil?

The issue here is illegal mining which is an illegality and there are no laws “guiding” illegality. The military can use whatever safe means they deem appropriate to take back control of all our mining areas if they have the political will of their Commander-in-Chief. The issue here is the lack of political will and the lack of leadership capacity. Do not forget that, the ruling party in Nigeria is the direct sponsor of insecurity and terrorism in Nigeria. We have previously established that using the confession of Alhaji Kawu Baraje, a founding chieftain of the ruling party, the judgment in Dubai, the revelations made by Gen. Danjuma, the incidents in Ogoja, the revelations made by Sheikh Gumi, former Governor el-Rufai, Commodore Olawunmi and others. We also used the public statements of Gen. Buhari and public statements of his Attorney General of the Federation, etc. It is not about the laws, but the lack of political will and the lack of leadership capacity. You cannot tackle what you don’t have capacity for. You cannot tackle something when you are not sincere about it. How genuinely committed and the sincerity of the government matters. Let’s ask this question: How sincere is the government in this cause?

Senator Adams Oshiomhole recently stated that some retired Army Generals and others  in service are using their chopper planes to lift our solid minerals and take them outside the country for big sales. How will you react to this?

It has been in the news for many years that aircraft are used by illegal miners to unlawfully move solid minerals out of Nigeria. Remember in 2021 when the Buhari regime declared a no-fly zone in Zamfara State to check these unlawful aircraft. Therefore, the Oshiomhole position is not new information. Again, the issue here is the lack of political will and the lack of leadership capacity as I noted earlier. Leadership requires vision. What is the vision of the person on the pilot seat? It matters because he has the power to change the probability of action either for good or for bad.

Some politicians are pointing accusing fingers at President Tinubu and the APC leadership for destabilizing opposition political parties. Do you share in this opinion?

Yes, we do share the view that Jagaban Tinubu and his political party are destabilizing opposition political parties. If you look at the PDP, Nyesom Wike is against the last PDP presidential flag bearer and also against the PDP governors. As a Minister in the Tinubu regime, Nyesom Wike is an agent of Jagaban Tinubu, make no mistakes about it.  It appears clear to us that Nyesom Wike is the sponsor of the crisis in the PDP to destroy the party on behalf of his principal. The case of the Labour Party, LP, is similar, but more covert.  The signs are there that the presidency is destabilizing opposition political parties. You don’t need a holy Moses to point that out.

Does the opposition have any future for 2027 presidential election in your political calculation of today?

The opposition in that case, the Labour Party won the 2023 presidential election with a very wide margin. Even Alhaji Atiku who was ostracized by the PDP “G6” got a lot more votes than Jagaban Tinubu who was a very distant third and lost the election woefully. Clearly, the opposition has an exceptional opportunity to win landslide again in a free and fair 2027 presidential election. One of our greatest problem is the fear or afraid to say the truth when it matters most. The truth is simple, it is only when you try to bend it that you get into trouble.  I am not afraid to die, standing on the truth. The challenge is will INEC conduct a free and fair election or will INEC again, publish fraudulent results in favour of the ruling party?

How will you rate the performance of the Tinubu regime?

The ad hoc Tinubu regime is a catastrophic failure. It has failed catastrophically on all fronts. Generally, it has failed to improve security In Nigeria; it has ruined the economy; it has destroyed democracy; it has corrupted public morality; it has promoted corruption to the primary purpose of government; it has promoted division and disunity. More specifically; corruption is unprecedented and the ‘Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’ ranked Jagaban Tinubu in the top three most corrupt rulers in the world. Insecurity and crime are unprecedented and the official NBS data has confirmed it. Waste of national resources is unprecedented from N2.6T recurrent expenditure (cost of governance) in 2015 to N14.1T in the 2025 proposed budget.  Total public debt is unprecedented from N77T in 2023 to N138T currently with very reckless and unpatriotic borrowing to enslave Nigerians. Unemployment and hyper-inflation are both unprecedented.The Nigerian economy has dropped from the largest in Africa to the fourth. The Nigerian economy is now about the thirty-third in Africa based on GDP per capita. The killing and detention of unarmed ‘EndBadGovernance’ protesters. The approval of toxic vaccines to poison Nigerians. The approval of GMOs to poison Nigerians. This is definitely the worst regime ever in Nigeria: possibly the worst regime ever in Africa. The Mo Ibrahim 2024 report rightly ranked Nigeria one of the worst governed countries in Africa. The ad hoc Tinubu regime is a catastrophic failure.