The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has petitioned the Senate, alleging that police officers shot at its mining marshals and obstructed efforts to prosecute illegal miners arrested in Nasarawa State.
In the petition addressed to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, John Onoja Attah, commander of the mining marshals, claimed that officers from the Police Force Intelligence Department (FID) attempted to derail ongoing court proceedings involving illegal mining activities at Rafin Gabas in Kokona LGA.
“The Senate committee is humbly requested to intervene in the police’s deliberate spreading of falsehood and obstruction of prosecution of illegal miners arrested at Rafin Gabas,” the petition reads.
Attah stated that his team had arrested several suspects — including one Ali Tanko and some Chinese nationals — on 25 October 2024, following a petition from Capital Apex Synergy Global Limited. The company alleged the suspects were mining at the site without a valid licence.
“They admitted to mining on the site since 2021 without any valid documentation,” he noted.
He said their confessional statements were taken in the presence of their lawyers and recorded on video.
The suspects, according to Attah, were subsequently charged in two cases — FHC/ABJ/CR/577/2024 and FHC/ABJ/CR/131/2025 — currently pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
He explained that the mining marshals had gone back to the site to preserve evidence, following the withdrawal of soldiers who had initially secured the area. The soldiers, he said, left on 26 March 2025 upon discovering the operations were illegal.
“However, when we returned to the site on 3 April 2025, we found policemen sent by one CSP Abdulmajeed of the FID, who, without any engagement, opened fire on our men,” he said.
Attah identified the officers who allegedly opened fire as Yarima Yunusa, Hasurana Lamshi, Oliver Kutuya, and Raymond Ibrahim. He noted that they were disarmed and handed over to the police.
However, he lamented the failure of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to investigate what he described as an attempted murder.
“This was not the first time the IGP ignored serious allegations,” he said.
He referenced a similar incident in Ondo State on February 12, 2025, where, according to him, police officers allegedly protecting illegal miners shot at NSCDC personnel in Lege community.
“Even after handing over the suspects to the police, they were never investigated,” he said.
Attah further alleged that on 8 April 2025, CSP Abdulmajeed led 30 FID officers to Rafin Gabas, where they assaulted and arrested four mining marshals: Salihu Nda Mohammed, Yusuf Attahiru, Sambi Amos Joel, and Mustapha Mohammed.
“They were pressured to implicate me but refused,” Attah said.
He also claimed that the police had turned their focus toward the original complainant, Capital Apex Synergy Global Limited, in a bid to frustrate the prosecution process.
“False witnesses were recruited, and fake petitions were submitted to discredit us,” he said.
Attah accused Abdulmajeed of orchestrating multiple police invitations in an attempt to damage his reputation and derail the case.
“Knowing their intentions, I declined to appear and instead submitted a detailed response to the DIG FID,” he said.
He expressed shock upon discovering that the police had obtained a court order restraining the mining marshals from operating at the disputed site — an action he believes was meant to legitimise the illegal miners.
Attah called on the Senate to thoroughly investigate the alleged attacks, cover-ups, and acts of sabotage linked to the police.
