The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, revealed that he has been receiving death threats over his remarks on how powerful Nigerians are funding banditry associated with illegal mining in the country.
Alake started this during a visit to the explosion site in Ibadan which claimed five lives, while 77 other sustained varying degrees of injuries and 58 properties were damaged.
The minister said he has been threatened since he mentioned that powerful and highly placed Nigerians are behind the illegal mining at the National Assembly.
His words: “If you follow my budget defence at the House of Representatives or Senate, I did say categorically to the whole world that powerful Nigerians are behind the banditry associated with illegal miners in this country.
” I said it openly, of course, I received threats, but we are undaunted because these things have to be said, and in any case, I wasn’t saying anything new, most people knew it.
“Many people have been saying it, I only gave it an official stamp, based on intelligence reports. So, there is a lot of connivance along and among the strata of the society both high, medium and low.
It is not an exclusive preserve of just a high hut. It cuts across the strata of the society. So, this is a societal problem, and I did say at that meeting at the budgetary defence that we were employing both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies and tactics to combine all of these. The details I won’t be able to reveal publicly now because that will also be un-strategic.”
On the Ibadan explosion, Alake, who condemned it, saying, “It would be presumptuous and precipitate for the government to make any solid pronouncement or definite pronouncement on the incident for now, until we have examined all the forensic analyses reports, all the investigations from all the security agencies, the mines inspectorate division of the ministry of solid minerals, intelligence arms of the various agencies before any pronouncement.
They are all working round the clock to ensure that there is an authentic and very viable forensic report to the government.”
