The Nigeria security and civil defence corps (NSCDC) has submitted a petition to the senate over an alleged shooting of its mining marshals by police officers.
It also alleged that the Nigeria police force is obstructing the efforts to charge illegal miners arrested in Nasarawa state.
This is revealed in a petition addressed to the committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions, by John Onoja Attah, the commander of the mining marshals.
According to Attah, police officials from the force intelligence department (FID) made an effort to halt current judicial proceedings over illicit mining activities in 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.
He said his team arrested some suspected illegal miners, including one Ali Tanko and several Chinese nationals, on 25 October 2024.
The operation was triggered by a petition submitted by Capital Apex Synergy Global Limited, which claimed that they were mining without a licence.
He said, “They admitted to mining on the site since 2021 without any valid documentation,” he noted in the petition.
He stressed that the suspects’ confessions were taken in the presence of their lawyers and recorded on video.
Attah said the suspected illegal miners were charged in cases FHC/ABJ/CR/577/2024 and FHC/ABJ/CR/131/2025, which are both pending before the federal high court in Abuja.
He said that when the military troops who had been there at first left on March 26, 2025, after discovering the actions were unlawful, the mining marshals remained to protect the evidence.
“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.
Identifying the officers involved in the shooting as Yarima Yunusa, Hasurana Lamshi, Oliver Kutuya and Raymond Ibrahim, Attah stressed that the officers were arrested and handed over to the police with their rifles.
However, despite the allegation of attempted murder, Kayode Egbetokun, the inspector-general of police (IGP), failed to investigate the matter.
“This was not the first time the IGP ignored serious allegations,” he said.
He recalled a similar incident on 12 February 2025 in the Lege community, Ondo state, where policemen allegedly protecting illegal miners shot at his men.
“Even after handing over the suspects to the police, they were never investigated,” he said.
He said, Abdulmajeed led 30 FID police officers to the Rafin Gabas site, where they attacked and detained four mining marshals: Mustapha Mohammed, Yusuf Attahiru, Salihu Nda Mohammed, and Sambi Amos Joel on April 8, 2025.
“They were pressured to implicate me but refused,” Attah said.
He asserted that in order to thwart the prosecution of illegal miners, the police launched a counter-investigation against the initial complaint, Capital Apex Synergy Global Limited.
He said, “False witnesses were recruited, and fake petitions were submitted to discredit us.
Additionally, Attah said that Abdulmajeed planned several police invites to damage his image and sabotage the judicial processes.
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“Knowing their intentions, I declined to appear and instead submitted a detailed response to the DIG FID,” he said.
The commander expressed shock to learn that the police had applied for and been granted a court order prohibiting the mining marshals from working at the location.
He said that this was done to “legitimise” the illegal miners’ activities.
He urged the Senate to look into the police’s suspected involvement in the attacks, cover-ups, and attempts to thwart continuing legal proceedings.
