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Thirteen persons alleged to have taken part in the killing of the late Village Head of Lambata, Alhaji Mohammed Abdulsafur, have been arraigned before Suleja High Court Number Three.
They were earlier standing trial at Minna Senior Magistrate Court Number Seven, presided over by Hajiya Fati Kabir, who held a preliminary charge before they were properly arraigned before the Suleja High Court.
Twenty-nine of the defendants were charged to court, out of which 13 were physically present, and they took their plea before Justice Aisha Wodu Bawa of Suleja High Court Number Three, while 16 of the defendants were said to have been at large.
Also, two others were still in Minna correctional custody to be brought in on the next adjourned date for them to take their plea.
Those in court were Umar Ilyasu Sarki, Hamza Umar Sarki, Dauda Umar Sarki, Abdulkareem Dantani, Yusuf Chaska Zubairu Dabaka Donbitso, Jibrin Garba Dende, and Ibrahim Mohammed.
Others included Ilyasu Dantani, Yakubu Bisalla, Musa Mohammed, Adamu Yusuf, Yunusa Ibrahim Abdullahi Umaru, Musa Abubakar, Danladi Dashi, Mohammed Atiku, and Usman Habib.
The office of the Attorney General in the state Ministry of Justice arraigned the 13 defendants on five counts of charges, which included culpable homicide, disturbing public peace, inciting disturbance, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous means, and mischief by fire.
The five-count charges, according to Assistant Chief State Counsel Barrister Mohammed Galadima, are punishable under Section 221 of the penal code and the joint act read together under Section 79 of the penal code.
When the five-count charges were read by Justice Aisha Bawa Wodu and interpreted to them, they all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At this point, Barrister Ahmed Baba Shehu applied for their bail, stating that the bail application was in support of a 14-paragraph affidavit, urging the Court to grant the defendants bail and asuring that if granted bail, they would provide a reasonable surety that would stand for them and would abide by any of the bail conditions.
Objecting to the bail application, the assistant chief state counsel told the court that he had filed a counter affidavit to object to the bail application as moved by the defence counsel and requested the court adjourn the case to commence hearing into the matter.
Justice Aisha Bawa Wodu ordered their remand in correctional custody pending the ruling on the bail application, and then adjourned the case to October 17, 2023, for the commencement of the matter.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Majelo Global Resources Limited, Hon. Ismaila Ibrahim Datti, has said reports linking his company with activities that nurture banditry in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State are false.
Hon. Ismaila, who was a former commissioner of youths in the state, frowned at a story published by an online news medium associating his company with a negotiating deal with bandits operating in Kurebe community under Shiroro Local Government Area.
He said his company has never partnered with others or any company to plunder the resources of the community, as insinuated in the report, and pay bandits money for any protection.
Hon. Ismaila averred that his company operated in some areas around Shiroro local government more than 10 years ago and had since abandoned his mining sites even before the security issues came to bear in the communities.
The said report alleged that Majelo Global Resources Limited, a mining and mineral exploration company owned by the former commissioner, had recently collaborated with some Chinese mining companies operating in the Kurebe community who were allegedly in the habit of bribing bandits purportedly of the Dogo Gide faction to allow them to mine lithium and other minerals in the area.
The reports indicated that the money paid for such purposes helps perpetuate banditry in the local government.
However, Ismaila Ibrahim Datti exonerated himself, explaining that the reporter misplaced the truth and concocted his own storyline to satisfy his sponsors.
He said he had been in mineral exploration for quite a long time and got, five years ago, a Small Scale Licence and a Licence for Explorations Permit from the Federal Mining Cadastre Office, Abuja, with the intention of mining gold on land he secured around the Kurebe community.
"I acquired this land more than 10 years ago and visited it only once. Last year, I was informed that some companies were operating under my title, mining lithium. We met, signed a deed of transfer, and transferred my rights on the lease to them.
"The company I entered into an agreement with last year was Three Crowns Mines Limited, and they have been operating in the area since then. Whether they were involved in any kind of deal or negotiation with the bandits, I wouldn't know since the reason I allowed them to mine in the area was because I could not access the place myself due largely to insecurity ", he revealed.
Hon. Ismaila Ibrahim Datti explained that it would be ridiculous to engage in agreement with the terrorist group in his position as a leader in the local government considering his political profile.
"The fact that I have transferred my titles to another company to operate in the area does not make me an accessory to any misconduct by that company. That aside. But, so why should my company that had not mined in the area in the past 10 years be mentioned ", he queried.
He said some of the people mentioned in the story were known to him and that he had met some of them to discuss encroachment on his license and to settle the dispute. He said the mined areas were not places anyone could operate because of banditry.
He said, "The first time we met to discuss the encroachment of my license at the Federal Mines Office in Minna, the Federal Mines Officer expressed concerns about the inaccessibility of the area because of the level of insecurity, but they said that was their headache and not mine. Even the Niger State Federal Mines Officer was there; he can bear witness".
Terror gangs mainly of the Dogo Gide faction operating in the forests of the Allawa, Galkago, Gurmana, Kurebe, and Bassa communities of Shiroro Local Government have for long unleashed mayhem on villagers, killing, extorting, and plundering farmers of possessions, which necessitated a response by the government in the form of the deployment of security personnel to confront the terrorists.
This situation has forced many locals to abandon their homes for safer places, and some have gone into IDP camps.
However, despite this worsening security situation in the areas, mining continued unabated, with some observers concluding there must be some kind of understanding between the bandits and the miners.
