The chairman, senate committee on interior, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, has insisted that retired military generals are neck deep in illegal exploitation of Nigeria’s mineral resources but clarified that no all of them are involved in the act.
Recall that Oshiomhole had on January 24, 2025 fingered unnamed retired generals in illegal mining activities in the country.
He made the allegation after the chairman of the senate committee on solid minerals development, Mr Sampson Ekong, had submitted his report before the senate committee on appropriation.
The senator stated that the government responds to the wave of illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta with heavy-handed tactics while it is soft when it comes to illegal mining of solid minerals.
However, speaking on Arise News interview yesterday, the lawmaker clarified that he meant “some retired generals” were involved and not all as was allegedly misconstrued in the media.
he accused the media of generalisation, saying “I think sometimes the media takes statements out of context.”
Oshiomhole contended that it is not sensible to say all retired generals are involved in illegal mining of Nigeria’s natural resources.
“It’s not sensible to say so. That would be a reckless, sweeping generalisation. That is not what I said. I said the problem is that some and I still believe it to be so; I know it to be so. I said some retired generals are involved.
“At no time did I say ‘retired generals’. I have many friends who are retired who are suffering and can’t change batteries in their car. They retire as pure military officers and never had any political exposure,” he said.
However, he maintained that some retired generals were involved in illegal mining and that the government had not applied the same magnitude of force used in protecting oil resources in the Niger Delta.
He related an encounter with a retired general who had served as a returning officer during the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary.
He said the general told him about the connection between illegal mining and organised crime.
“He said, ‘Adams, you are worried about the primaries’, but what he has seen is far more serious than that…those kidnappers in the first instance, in his own words are in the services of some very powerful retired generals and they use a chopper.”
He added that the general had detailed how weapons were being dropped off for trained civilians who protected illegal mining sites and, in some cases, used the arms for kidnapping and terrorism.
He said he asked the retired general to write a two—or three-page report on the matter.
“There is no way I can comprehend this story because I have no military training or secret training. I pleaded with him to do a summary, not more than two, a maximum of three pages, that I will submit as chairman of the ruling party at that time, that l will submit to the president, who incidentally is a retired general before becoming the president of Nigeria.
“So he will understand the issues more clearly. I advised him to put his phone number so that the president can call him if he so wishes and give him this detailed security dimension…because he warned me that if that thing is not checked, what is happening in the Northeast will be child’s play.
Oshiomhole said he took the retired general’s concerns seriously and presented a written report to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“And so I took this letter, as I promised him, because I saw a patriotic officer, though retired, but not tired of his loyalty to Nigeria. And I gave it to the then President Buhari.
“And I said, sir, go through it; it is self-explanatory. My advice is that you can call him, and he can give you more graphic details of what he saw and what he knows and his fears about what will happen if this is not nipped in the bud,” Oshiomhole said.
The lawmaker also expressed his concern about the unchecked activities of foreign and local actors involved in illegal mining and urged the government to deploy the same energy it uses against oil thieves in the Niger Delta in tackling illegal mining.
“I would like to see government deploying the same amount of force in protecting our solid minerals and dealing with those who are involved in illegal mining just like illegal bunkering, with the same force of JTF to deal with anyone involved… because the people involved are powerful, only superior power can neutralise them.”
He explained that discussions within the senate committee on solid minerals had revealed that foreign nationals were carting away gold and other resources while Nigeria struggled to benefit from its solid minerals sector.
He also noted that while solid minerals generate revenue, much of it is lost due to illegal activities.
“It is absolutely impossible for anyone, particularly foreigners far away outside the African continent, coming to Nigeria, locating a site, not being geologists, and they go straight to where they can find solid minerals and they start mining it and they take it away,” he said.
He stressed that the government had failed to harness the full potential of the sector adding that information about the dramatis personae in the illicit mining business is not hidden.
