Condemn of the terrorist commander a victory against illegal mining – Alake

The Minister of Development of Solid Minerals, dr. Dele Alake, says that Mahmud Usman’s condemnation, commander of the Ansaru terrorist group, is a great victory against illegal mines in Nigeria.

Alake said it in a declaration of his special assistant in the media, Segun Tomori, Sunday in Abuja.

Freedomonline reports that the High Federal Court of Abuja on 11 September sentenced and sentenced Usman to 15 years of imprisonment for illegal mining activities.

Judge Emeka Nwite gave the order after Usman, aka Abu Bara’a/Abbas Mukhtar, stated guilty of being an account 10 of the position of terrorism of 32 favorite counts against him.

He also joined the cause, his deputy commander, Abubakar Abba, aka Isah Adam/Mahmud Al-Nigeri.

Usman and Abba, in counting 10, were presumably committed the illegal crime of mining between 2015 and 2025.

They were accused of extracting precious minerals such as stones for thunder and California stones without legitimate authority.

While praised the support of the judiciary in the fight against illegal mining, Alake described the verdict as a proof that the bandits engaged in illegal mining to finance their operations.

“It is rewarding that the judiciary is aligned with the aim of the zero tolerance ministry for illegal mining.

“A further tightening of the noose around the illegality in mining continues as more drastic measures will be announced shortly,” he said.

He said the ministry would monitor the 31 cases of pending terrorism against Ansaru commanders to draw lessons to strengthen the fight against illegal mining.

The minister also praised the direction of state services to monitor diligently, detect and arrest terrorists to face the full anger of the law.

“We will increase the inter-agency collaboration to increase the rhythm of surveillance to free our illegal mineral communities perpetrated by the bandits,” he said.

Nan recalls that Alake and Senator Adams Oshiomhole had previously stated that large and powerful illegal miners sponsored Banditi.

Alake, in 2024, established Mareshals Mining (MM), a security unit driven by Nigerian safety and the civil defense body, to guarantee mining sites across the country following a wave of illegal mining activities in the country.