Mining Marshals Deny Role In Niger Miners’ Deaths

The Mining Marshals have denied deploying operatives for the September 16 operation at M.I. Wushishi Housing Estate in Minna, Niger State, where miners reportedly died in custody, insisting that the suspended state commandant had no authority to deploy the specialised unit.

The unit’s Commander, Assistant Commandant of Corps John Onoja Attah, said no Mining Marshals personnel participated in the operation now being investigated by the Justice Mohammed Mohammed Commission of Inquiry.

In a statement issued by his office at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps National Headquarters in Abuja, Attah described claims attributed to suspended Niger State Commandant Suberu Siyaka Aniviye as false and misleading.

Aniviye was quoted in a publication on October 16 as saying he visited the mining site on September 15 before deploying Mining Marshals operatives to the area.

However, Attah said the account misrepresented the unit’s command structure and operational jurisdiction.

“No Mining Marshals operative is attached to the Niger State Command or to any State Command of the Corps for that matter,” he said.

He explained that the unit operates exclusively from the NSCDC National Headquarters under the direct command and control of the Commandant-General, in collaboration with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.

According to him, state commandants lack the authority to deploy Mining Marshals for operations.

“Our operational records confirm that at no time were Mining Marshals personnel deployed or involved in the said operation,” Attah said.

He warned against linking the unit to the deaths currently under investigation by the commission of inquiry.

Defending the unit’s record, Attah said its enforcement activities under the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007, had been conducted professionally and in accordance with the law.

He also claimed that the Mining Marshals had recorded no human rights violations since their establishment and had no pending Fundamental Human Rights Enforcement suit in any Nigerian court.

Attah said the unit remained committed to tackling illegal mining and sanitising Nigeria’s solid minerals sector, adding that misleading reports would not distract it from its statutory responsibilities.