Sand mining site
Sept. 12, 2025
Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN) says the 15-year conviction of Mahmud Usman, commander of the terrorist group, Ansaru, for illegal mining affirms international conspiracy in Nigeria’s mining sector.
MAN’s National President, Dele Ayankele, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday convicted and sentenced Usman to 15 years’ imprisonment for illegal mining activities.
Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order after Usman, a.k.a. Abu Bara’a/Abbas Mukhtar, pleaded guilty to count 10 of the 32-count terrorism charge preferred against him and his deputy commander, Abubakar Abba, a.k.a. Isah Adam/Mahmud Al-Nigeri.
Usman and Abba, in count 10, were alleged to have committed the illegal mining offence between 2015 and 2025.
They were accused of mining precious minerals such as thunder stones and california stones without lawful authority.
Ayankele urged the government to thoroughly investigate reports of international collaborations in illegal mining activities.
“Now that he has been convicted for illegal mining, then it is a confirmation of the veracity of international conspiracy to the illegal mining in Nigeria.
“It also goes to say that our nation must dig deep into the international collaborations to all forms of illegality and criminality in the Nigerian mining space, with the view to nipping it in the bud,” he said.
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Dele Alake and Sen. Adams Oshiomhole had noted that big, powerful illegal miners were sponsoring banditry.
Alake, in 2024, established the Mining Marshals (MM), a security unit drawn from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, to secure mining sites across the country following a surge of illegal mining activities in the country.
The minister, during the one-year anniversary of the MM in March, said the unit had arrested 327 suspects for illegal mining.
He added that 143 had been prosecuted including foreigners since it began operations in 2024.
They also reclaimed 98 mining sites by clearing illegal miners who had occupied licensed areas for more than a decade, preventing the rightful owners from operating.(NAN)
