Police investigators have been stopped from accessing and investigating mining sites in Rafin Gabbas at Kokona LGA of Nasarawa State despite obtaining a Federal High Court order given by Justice Emeka Nwite.
According to the order, obtained by LEADERSHIP, in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/901/2025 between Inspector General of Police and ACC Attah John Onoja, Commander, Mining Marshals; Nizhong Mining Company Limited and Capital Apex Synergy Global Services Limited; Justice Nwite gave a restraining order against ACC Attah John Onoja, who is the commander of mining marshals and his team in Rafin Gabbas Agwada Town, Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, from “carrying out illegal mining or interfering with anything in the area using Capital Apex Synergy Global Services Limited and Nizhong Mining Company Limited for investigation for the period of 30 days.”
The order was given on the 20th day of May, 2025, and up on till now, police investigators, deployed by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetukun, and led by Chief Superintendent Abdulmajeed Abisoye Oyewumi, have not been able to access the sites while the countdown to the expiration of the ex-parte order continued.
A security source told LEADERSHIP that the game being played by the mining marshals and the Chinese operators at the site was to delay the police team from accessing the site till the expiration of the court order, noting that there were possibilities of evidence being destroyed in the mining sites.
The source noted that the police investigators have already discovered dead bodies of people who died in the disputed mining sites and some were already deposited at the mortuary for autopsy.
LEADERSHIP correspondent, who visited the village where the mining sites are located and spoke to some of the villagers, reports that the villagers were complaining of the impacts of the illegal mining activities on their lives and farmlands, even as their people died at the mining sites without proper compensation or giving proper burials.
One of the villagers and the secretary of the mining community, Eshimutu Ode, told our correspondent that so many people have died in the mining sites and nobody was saying anything to the affected families or the community about it.
He said the sites are being managed by some Chinese companies and the commander of mining marshals, Onoja, who serves as the security head.
They, however, accused Onoja and his security team of causing a lot of problems for the community.
He called on the federal government, led by President Bola Tinubu, to intervene and remove the commander of the mining marshals in order to bring peace to the community.
According to him, “the commander, mining marshals, should be removed because he has caused a lot of problems in the community. A lot of people are dying in the mining sites and nothing is being done about it. We have the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) people guarding the sites and that has not stopped the deaths.”
LEADERSHIP also obtained a letter of consent disclaimer dated May 15, 2025 by the traditional ruler of the community, His Royal Highness, Abubakar Sadiq Obagu, the paramount ruler of Agwada, a development area in Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, to the Director General of Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office, stating that they did not consent to companies like Capital Apex Synergy Global Services Limited, Nizhong Mining Company Limited, Badger Mines Nigeria Limited, Baba Allen Nigeria Limited, who are laying claims to have licences in Rafin Gabbas, and requested the director general to deny approval of any mineral titles to the companies.
The traditional ruler, however, stated that the only company given consent is Deymay A. Global Limited. However, our findings showed that part of the mining sites allocated to Deymay A. Global has already by taken over by these companies operating at Rafin Gabbas.
When LEADERSHIP contacted the commander, mining marshals, ACC Onoja, he said said they had appealed the court order and the case will come up on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
According to him, “This is a public and sensitive issues involving a lot of bad activities going on in the mining sites…On the restraining order, we have appealed it the day after we received it. The case comes up on Wednesday.”
On the death at the mining sites, he asked, “how can the marshals stop deaths at a mining sites?”.
Meanwhile, LEADERSHIP understands that the court may not sit on Wednesday as there was an ongoing industrial strike by judicial workers nationwide unless resolved before Wednesday.
