The Cross River State government has ordered all categories of licensed and unlicensed miners to immediately move out of communities and forests.
The Senior Special Adviser on State Security, Major General Obono Ubi, has given them five days to disarm and evacuate their machinery to avert untoward action by the state.
In the last two months, there have been reported influxes of strange men, suspected to be from northern Nigeria and the Sahelian region, into Agoi Ibami and other communities in Yakurr LGA, including the restricted Cross River National Parks, under the guise of mining for gold and other precious stones.
Several reports confirmed that in late December 2024, most of them arrived in five long buses.
As a result of their activities and security threats, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Grimah Gyogon, dispatched detachments of personnel for surveillance.
Authorities of the 13 Brigade in Calabar, the state capital, also dispatched two busloads of soldiers to dislodge the invaders.
As a result, a large number of them, who could not properly account for their missions, have been rounded up.
At a security stakeholders’ town hall meeting on illegal mining in Cross River State, attended by traditional and security chiefs, as well as registered miners mostly from the affected communities in Biase, Akamkpa, Yakurr, and surrounding areas, participants expressed their fears and concerns over the security threats posed by the influx of the strange men.
The state security adviser blamed indigenes for conniving with the invaders, stating that without their active support, often for peanuts, the illegal miners could not have gained the confidence to entrench themselves and perpetuate illegal activities to the detriment of the community.
“I have several video clips showing that our own youths, armed with local weapons, assist these foreign illegal miners to devastate Agoi Ibami and other communities and forests.
“These youths brandish weapons, putting the miners under duress.
“We have our tentacles spread all over the place.
“The local chiefs and traditional heads must fish out these boys. We have many in our nets.
“We’re giving all the miners five days—yes, five days—from today to remove whoever they posted to the forests to front for them, else…
“Everybody should be out of the forest.
“We’re not against anybody coming to Cross River for legitimate business, but we’re against those coming to perpetuate illegality and stir up crises.”
A respected traditional ruler, Chief Etebom Effiom Moma, re-echoed the alarm over the massive numbers of foreigners inhabiting the forests, some communities, and the fringes of the Cross River National Parks.
He said, “I foresee dangers; serious dangers. These people have not flocked into communities in Yakurr and nearby local government areas just for gold—they have ulterior motives.
“These motives are inimical to our state. Over 2,000 of them, many armed, are in our communities.
“I pray that the high insecurity witnessed in the northern parts of Nigeria doesn’t become our lot in this state. Therefore, I call on the state government to rise now and be proactive.”
