High Court Dismisses Suit Against Jos-Based Mining Company

The High Court sitting in Yola, Adamawa State, under the leadership of Hon. Justice Kyanson Samuel Lawanson, has delivered a judgement in favour of a Jos-based mining company, Elipse Industries Limited, over a suit involving it and Ajia Global Fleet Concept Limited.

The plaintiff, Ajiya Global Fleet Concept, now the Judgement Debtor, had dragged Elipse Industries Limited, now the Judgement Creditor, before the court for trespass and a declaration of title in respect of the disputed lands, which is the defendant’s mining site situated at Gidan Zuma, Sugu District, in Ganye Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

In its statement of claim, Ajiya Global Fleet Concept averred that it acquired the lands from the original owners for valuable consideration via a sale agreement executed on February 8, 2022. Therefore, it sought a declaration of title and a restraining order against the Defendant/Judgment Creditor, its servants, agents, privies, or any other person, by whatever name, from further trespassing into the plaintiff’s land.

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Contrary to the plaintiff’s claim, the defendant, Elipse Industries, posited before the Court that in 2019, it was granted consent by the landowners, with which it acquired a Mineral Title from the Federal Government to mine copper and manganese at Gidan Zuma, Sugu District, in Ganye Local Government Area.

According to the Defendant/Judgment Creditor, its license was approved after it submitted the requisite supporting documents and fulfilled all the requirements for exploration, acquiring all legal rights, including an exploration license from the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (MCO).

The Defendant/Judgment Creditor argued that the plaintiff/Judgment Debtor emerged from nowhere with a license in respect of the same mining site, overlapping with the existing license of the Defendant/Judgment Creditor. Following a complaint to the Ministry of Mines and Steel, Cadastre Abuja, the purported license of the Judgement Debtor was recalled, withdrawn, and cancelled.

It was further argued and submitted by the Judgement Creditor that the purported Sales Agreement tendered in evidence by the Judgement Debtor was fraudulently obtained, as the Land Owners did not sell their respective lands to anybody anywhere in the world.

When testifying before the Court, the landowners denied outrightly that they did not sell or contact anybody to sell their respective lands to either the plaintiff or anybody anywhere in the world. In fact, they have never seen the plaintiff or any of its representatives. When further shown the purported Sales Agreements, they denied signing the same at all.

In his judgement, Hon. Justice Kyanson Samuel Lawanson, having examined the nitty-gritty of the pleadings exchanged by the parties, rejected the purported Sales Agreement, finding it to have been procured out of fraud, and summarily dismissed the plaintiff’s case for want of merit.