Minna Miners’ Deaths: NSCDC Mining Marshals Deny Role

The Mining Marshals of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have distanced themselves from the September 16 operation at M.I. Wushishi Housing Estate, Minna, Niger State, in which some persons died.

Naija News reports that the unit insisted the suspended Niger State Commandant of the NSCDC, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, lacked the authority to deploy its personnel for any operation.

The Commander of the Mining Marshals, Assistant Commandant of Corps, John Onoja Attah, stated this in a statement on Saturday.

Attah described the claim credited to Aniviye as false and misleading, saying he deployed Mining Marshals operatives to the area.

The suspended commandant had claimed that he visited the mining site on September 15 before sending Mining Marshals personnel there.

The development comes as the Justice Mohammed Mohammed-led Commission of Inquiry continues its probe into the circumstances surrounding the incident and the conduct of the security operatives involved.

But Attah argued that Aniviye’s account misrepresented the unit’s command structure and operational jurisdiction.

He explained that no member of the specialised unit was attached to any state command, stressing that the national headquarters directed its operations.

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

According to him, the unit works exclusively under the direct command, control and operational directives of the Commandant-General, in partnership with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.

He added that no state commandant had the authority to deploy Mining Marshals for any assignment.

Attah also noted that the Commandant-General had, on several public occasions, stated that the unit was not involved in the operation.

The commander said he only learned about the operation when news of the incident broke, adding that the alleged involvement of the unit was not only untrue but also contrary to its established chain of command.

Attah said the unit’s records showed that none of its personnel took part in the operation.

“Our operational records confirm that at no time were Mining Marshals personnel deployed or involved in the said operation,” he stated, warning against any attempt to link the unit to the deaths in custody under investigation.

The commander also defended the unit’s conduct, saying its enforcement activities under the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007, were professional and lawful.

He said since its creation, the unit had strictly complied with its rules of engagement, adding that it had no record of human rights violations anywhere in the country and no pending fundamental rights enforcement suit against it in any court.

Attah credited the unit’s discipline to the standard operating procedures put in place under the leadership of the NSCDC Commandant-General, Prof. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, and the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake.

He said the Mining Marshals remained committed to sanitising the country’s solid minerals sector and would not be distracted by what he called erroneous publications.

The commander urged the media to always verify information on the unit’s operations from its national headquarters, stressing the need for responsible reporting on security agencies, especially on allegations of deaths in custody.