The Minister of Solid Minerals and Development, Dr Dele Alake, has described the verdict that sentenced Ansaru terror group’s commander Mahmud Usman to 15 years in jail as a major victory in the war against illegal mining.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister, Segun Tomori, made available to TVC on Sunday.
According to the statement, Alake commended the judiciary’s effort in supporting the efforts of the ministry to crush illegal mining, stressing that the verdicts have finally established that bandits engage in illegal mining to fund operations.
“It is gratifying for me that the judiciary is aligned with the ministry’s objective of zero tolerance for illegal mining. Further tightening of the noose around illegalities in mining continues as more drastic measures will be announced shortly,” he said.
Alake stressed the ministry’s commitment to monitoring the proceedings of the remaining 31 cases of terrorism against the Ansaru commanders, noting that the regulators of the mining sector have a lot to learn from these cases to improve their capacity to counter illegal mining.
Read Also
- Doyin Abiola's death signals gradual exit of beautiful ones who brought sparkle to lives of many readers - Alake
- EFCC arraigns two Chinese nationals for alleged illegal mining in Lagos
- NSCDC raids illegal mining site in Kogi, 17 suspects arrested
- Illegal mining: EFCC arrests Six Nigerians, two Chinese nationals in Ogun state
The minister praised the Directorate of State Security Services (DSS) for the yeoman’s job of monitoring, detecting, and arresting terrorists to face the wrath of the law.
“We shall increase inter-agency collaboration to raise the tempo of surveillance to rid our communities of illegal mining perpetrated by bandits,” the minister stated.
TVC previously reported that the federal high court sitting in Abuja had convicted and sentenced the Ansaru leader, Mahmud Usman, to 15 years in prison.
Usman had pleaded guilty to charges of illegal mining of Californium stone without lawful authority, which proceeds were used for the purchase of arms and ammunition.
In view of the plea of guilty, the federal government had asked that the maximum sentence of life in prison be handed down on the convict and remanded in the custody of the Department of State Service in view of the other 31 pending charges against him.
