Concerns over the alleged intrusion of Taraba on Adamawa mining sites.

11 Burkinabes Who 'Can't Speak Any Nigerian Language' Among 21 Alleged Illegal Miners Arraigned In Taraba Court

Nigerian Union of Mining Workers, North East chapter, has raised the alarm over the alleged encroachment of the Taraba State government on the mining site of neighboring Adamawa State.

The union also claimed that all the miners recently arrested by the Taraba government had been carrying out their legitimate mining activities in Adamawa.

Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba, recently, placed a ban on mining activities in the state.

To enforce the ban, a committee headed by a retired Army General was put in place by the governor to clamp down on illegal miners.

Briefing newsmen, yesterday, in Jalingo, Secretary of the North East Union of Mining Workers, Salisu Shaibu, said those the committee arrested were miners in Adamawa and not Taraba.

Claiming that Tongo Local Council, where the miners were reportedly arrested is in Adamawa and not Taraba, the union said the need for the governor and President Bola Tinubu to wade in has become necessary

Shaibu, who alleged that the committee overstepped its bounds, called on the authorities and other stakeholders to press on the committee to release all miners in its custody.

Apart from the arrests, the union, who also alleged that its members were manhandled by the committee, and gold worth millions of naira confiscated from them, also wants the committee to release the confiscated gold.

“We, as a union, will never support any form of illegal mining. We welcome well-intended reforms in the mining industry, but due process should be followed in implementing such reforms,” he said.

He beckoned the state government “to make proper findings on which state the site where the miners were dislodged and arrested belong.”

Chairman of the committee, Gen. Jeremiah Faransa (rtd), who recently paraded over 300 suspected illegal miners, expressed dismay at the level of destruction allegedly inflicted on the Taraba environment.

Reeling out the level of devastation of the environment by ‘illegal miners’, he said the miners were all arrested in Bali Local Council of Taraba.

Meanwhile, Court 

proceedings were halted when 11 out of the 21 defendants who claimed to be citizens of Burkina Faso, said they did not understand the language of the court or any Nigerian language.

There was a mild drama on Monday at a court in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, when 21 persons were arraigned for alleged illegal mining. 

Court proceedings were halted when 11 out of the 21 defendants who claimed to be citizens of Burkina Faso, said they did not understand the language of the court or any Nigerian language.

This comes amidst escalating tension in the West African sub-region, following threats of military invasion against the Niger Republic by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The 21 alleged illegal miners were brought before a special court set up by the Taraba State Government after they were arrested by a security joint task force constituted to check the activities of illegal miners.

They were reportedly arrested at a disputed mining site whose ownership is being contested by Adamawa and Taraba states

Authorities in Taraba State regard the area in question as Dogon-Yatshu in the Bali Local Government Area. But their Adamawa counterparts insist that the place is known as Kogin-Baba in the Toungo Local Government Area of the state.

In the meantime, the court couldn't proceed with the trial as 11 out of the 21 defendants, claimed to have come from Burkina Faso. 

The prosecuting counsel, Nierus Johnson, urged the court to remand the defendants pending when a competent interpreter could interpret court proceedings in a language they would understand. 

But the counsel for the defendants, Martin Milkman, objected by informing the court that his clients should be admitted to bail since the court could not communicate their alleged crimes to them.

However, Magistrate Husseini Galadima ruled in favour of the prosecution by remanding the defendants at an undisclosed facility. He, thereafter, adjourned the case to September 6 to enable the court to get an interpreter.