The High Court sitting at Yola, Adamawa State, presided over by Justice Kyanson Lawanson, has delivered a judgment 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 Judgment Debtor, had dragged Elipse Industries Limited now the Judgment Creditor before the court for trespass, and declaration of title in respect of the disputed lands/the defendant’s mining site situate 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, and therefore sought for declaration of title and 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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Conversely, to the claim of the plaintiff, the defendant, Elipse Industries, posited before the Court that in 2019, it was granted consent by the land owners 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 and acquired 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 hence overlapped on the existing licence of the Defendant/Judgment Creditor and sequel to a complain to the Ministry of Mines and Steel, Cadastre Abuja, the purported licence of the Judgment Debtor was recalled, withdrawn and cancelled.