A former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has accused retired generals of being behind illegal mining across Nigeria. He didn’t provide evidence to buttress his point, however.
Illegal mining is rampant in the country with powerful Nigerians cashing in on inability of the government to tap into the natural resources of the country. Foreigners, notably Chinese, are also conniving with the locals so as to engage in the illegal business.
Oshiomhole, who is currently representing Edo North pepper in the Senate, is the chairman of the Senate committee on interior.
The Senator, who had also led the All Progressives Congress once, made the comment when the committee in solid minerals development chairman was submitting its 2015 budget report.
He asked the president to address the issue of illegal mining or his efforts to diversify economy would fail woefully. Both Oshiomhole and Bola Tinubu are close allies.
“The ongoing illegal mining across the country is being carried out by retired generals and we know them. Yes, we know them. Nobody in Africa doesn’t know them. I did a letter to former President Muhammadu Buhari on the matter when he was in office
“This is because a team that I sent to go and conduct the primary somewhere, reported back to me, the challenge of conducting primary elections in Zamfara because of the illegal miners.
“If we have to fight this menace, we need to deploy the Army even to kill anyone who is involved in illegal pumping of oil. We should also deploy JTFs, comprising the Army, Police, Air force, against them.”
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