… Drags Fayemi, Dangote to court over contempt
The
last may not have been heard over the mess created by the Federal Ministry of Mines
and Steel Development as the ruling Atta Omadivi Family of Okene in Kogi State
has described the recent ministry’s publication bequeathing the contentious Mining
Lease ML 2541 to Dangote Group as desperate move, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The
family, NaijaAgroNet gathered,
also said that it depicts a ‘reflection of desperate, reckless, irresponsible
and partisan conduct of the ministry’ which has continued to flout all court
injunctions related to the contentious lease.
NaijaAgroNet
recalls that the Executive Chairman/CEO of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu had
petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari on December 4, 2017 in a letter titled “A
Cry for Help: Wanton Abuse of Power by a Serving Minister Geared at Sabotaging
Operations of BUA Cement,” affirming that the Ministry was taking sides with
Dangote Group to claim ownership of the mining site ML2541 in Okpella, Edo
State. The Ministry had replied in a statement signed by its Permanent
Secretary, Mohammed Abass stating that Mining Lease ML 2541 in Okene, Kogi
State belongs to Dangote Industries Limited and that BUA has been illegally
mining the site.
But
in a press statement signed by Prince Mahmoud Atta on behalf of the Atta Family
expressed disdain over the Ministry’s hasten conclusion in their publication stating
that suit FHC/LK/CS/25/2017 between Alhaji Mohammed Otaru Adeika & Ors. Versus
AICO Ado Ibrahim and Company Limited, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, The
Mining Cadestre Office and Dangote Industries Plc pending in Federal High Court
in Lokoja will determine who owns the contentious site.
Prince
Atta wonders why the Ministry has special interest in Dangote to openly and illegally
bequeath them ML2541 under contention in competent Court, describing the act as
tantamount to contempt of the court.
Stressing
that the court had ordered that no one can claim ownership of ML2541, Atta said
neither Aico nor Dangote owns ML2541 as wrongly declared by the Ministry adding
that the Mining Lease remains nontransferable until the suit is determined.
According
to Atta, “The frequency of the publication is reflective of desperate,
reckless, irresponsible and partisan conduct of the Ministry in clear
violation, disregard and suppression of a subsisting court order dated June 15,
2017 in respect to the transfer, operations and ownership of the purported
Mining Lease ML 2541.
“We
hereby inform the general public that the existence, validity and ownership of
ML2541 is a subject matter in suit No. FHC/LK/CS/25/2017 between Alhaji
Mohammed Otaru Adeika & Ors. V. AICO Ado Ibrahim and Company Limited,
Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, The Mining Cadestre Office and Dangote
Industries as defendants before Honourable Justice M. Sani of the Federal High
Court, Lokoja Kogi State.
“We
wish to state that the Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry and Dangote Industries Plc are acting in
violation of a subsisting order of injunction of the Federal High Court Lokoja,
Kogi State restraining them by themselves servants agents assignees transferees
or other third parties from parading themselves as the holders of ML2541
pending the determination of the substantive suit.
“For
the purpose of clarity, we wish to restate again that the court was explicit in
its order that no one can parade themselves as the holders of ML2541 pending
the determination of the suit. As such, neither AICO nor Dangote can’t lay
claim to the ownership of ML2541 as the ministry said in its offending
publication. Neither is the Mining Lease transferable until the determination
of the suit brought against them by our family.
“It
is unfortunate this action and conduct is being perpetrated in a democratic
dispensation that touts the rule of law. We have continued to insist that the
purported transfer of ML2541 to Dangote Industries by Messrs AICO Ibrahim is in
clear contravention of Nigerian Mining Act 2007 which the Ministry claims to be
upholding in its publication.
“The
publications by the Ministry seek to overreach the matter before the court and
consequently we have instructed our solicitors to protect not only our interests
but the sanctity of the court and the judicial process, which include bit not
limited to commencing contempt proceedings against the parties in violation of
the orders of the court” he said.