In the last few months, Nigeria’s mining landscape has witnessed a quiet but decisive shift driven by the intensified enforcement efforts of the Mining Marshal Commander, John Attah Onoja. Under his leadership, the Marshal’s office has moved from a nominal structure to an active, boots-on-the-ground force disrupting the entrenched networks of illegal mining across major mineral corridors.
But as history has shown, the moment you challenge the beneficiaries of chaos, they do not sit back. They fight back. And that is precisely what is unfolding today: a deliberate and coordinated smear campaign aimed at sabotaging Commander Onoja’s work.
The attacks did not erupt overnight. They began subtly as operations intensified. As illegal sites were shut down, equipment seized, and revenue leakages blocked, discontent began to circulate among the groups whose activities were being disrupted.
Soon, the whispers grew into aggressive allegations, including claims that the Mining Marshal had been compromised, that enforcement was biased, and that local communities were being unfairly targeted. Anyone following developments in Nigeria’s extractive sector could see the pattern clearly.
The cartels were testing the waters, pushing out disinformation to manipulate public perception. Once it became clear that enforcement was not slowing down, the smear campaign escalated. Illegal miners, backed by well-connected financiers and informal operators, began mobilizing sympathetic actors to amplify the accusations.
Some farmers, many misinformed or deliberately misled, joined the chorus, arguing that enforcement activities threatened their farmlands. Yet the irony is glaring. The real source of environmental destruction in these communities has always been illegal mining.
It is illegal operators who pollute water bodies, destroy arable soil, and destabilize entire farming belts through reckless excavation and chemical contamination.
But distortion is the lifeblood of every smear campaign. Create enough noise, and people stop asking for evidence. And in this case, none exists. There is no proof that Commander John Attah Onoja has compromised his mandate or deviated from established protocols.
What exists instead is a clear pattern: every time his team closes an illegal site or blocks a revenue loophole, another wave of anonymous allegations conveniently emerges. The logic is painfully obvious. When enforcement starts cutting into illegal profit streams, the beneficiaries of those streams will try anything—absolutely anything—to discredit him.
It would be naïve to imagine that these attacks are organic or rooted in genuine community grievances. They are strategic. They are funded. And they are designed to weaken enforcement by first weakening public trust. Illegal mining syndicates understand that once Nigerians rally behind the Mining Marshal’s work, the space for their operations collapses permanently.
So they try to tarnish the commander’s name early, hoping that manufactured doubt will buy them more time. The victims of this sabotage, however, are not Commander Onoja alone. They are Nigerians. Every day illegal mining is allowed to flourish, the country loses billions in revenue, thousands of potential jobs, and the farmlands that sustain entire communities.
Security risks grow, environmental standards collapse, and foreign collaborators exploit mineral deposits without accountability. Commander Onoja’s work confronts these dangers head-on, and his courage deserves reinforcement, not suspicion.
The public must now decide which narrative to believe: the unsubstantiated allegations pushed by those whose illegal operations are being dismantled, or the undeniable results of a Mining Marshal enforcing the laws of the land. Nigeria has seen this pattern before.
From anti-corruption campaigns to security operations, every effort that threatens entrenched interests attracts the same playbook of blackmail, misinformation, and paid propaganda. It is a cynical, familiar script.
The truth remains simple. John Attah Onoja is doing his job. He is restoring order, closing leakage points, dismantling illegal syndicates, and stabilising a sector long suffocated by opacity and corruption. The attacks on him are not a reflection of failure.
They are proof of impact. Nigerians must see through the noise. The mining sector has a rare chance to evolve from a national liability into a pillar of development, and attempts to sabotage enforcement must be confronted with clarity, unity, and unwavering support for the rule of law.
The country cannot allow cartels to dictate the narrative. If the campaign against the Mining Marshal seems loud, coordinated, and relentless, it is because his work is finally hitting the right nerves. That alone should tell us where the truth lies.
Zekeri Idakwo Laruba is the Assistant Editor Economic confidential. [email protected]
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