Firm asks Appeal Court to overturn order barring access to Nasarawa mining site

A mining firm, Lideal Mines Company, has approached the Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi, seeking to overturn a Federal High Court order restraining it from accessing or carrying out operations at its mining site in Endo Community, Udege Development Area of Nasarawa Local Government Area, Nasarawa State.

The company, through its lead counsel, Martin Ojonimi Atojoko, filed a notice of appeal challenging the May 11, 2026 ruling of the Federal High Court, which granted interlocutory orders barring all parties from entering or conducting mining activities within disputed cadastral units in the community pending the determination of the substantive suit.

The appeal followed a directive by the Nasarawa State Government ordering the company to withdraw its operational facilities, equipment and personnel from the site after the court ruling backed the state’s action.

In its appeal, Lideal Mines argued that the trial court prematurely determined issues that form the substance of the main case before it.

“The learned trial judge erred in law when, having been invited in the substantive originating summons to determine whether the Government of Nasarawa State possessed any constitutional or statutory competence to suspend or interfere with federally-licensed mining operations, His Lordship proceeded at the interlocutory stage to give judicial effect to the very executive acts whose validity constitutes the substantive question before the court,” the company stated.

The mining firm further maintained that the effect of the ruling was to validate disputed executive actions before the court had determined whether the state government possessed the constitutional authority to take such steps.

“The practical and legal effect of the Orders made by the Court below was to place judicial imprimatur upon disputed executive acts before resolving whether the Respondents possessed any constitutional competence whatsoever to undertake those acts in the first place,” it added.

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The dispute is part of a broader legal battle already before the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Lideal Mines is contesting what it described as the unlawful suspension of its operations and alleged takeover of its mining site.

In the substantive suit, the company is seeking N5 billion in damages against the Nasarawa State Government, the state Attorney-General and Ganfeng Lithium Industry Limited.

Lideal Mines is also asking the court to declare as unconstitutional and void the suspension and evacuation notices issued against it on February 4 and March 10, 2026.

The company urged the Court of Appeal to set aside the interlocutory ruling and stop further enforcement of the lower court’s decision, insisting that the appeal raises significant constitutional and jurisdictional questions.

Meanwhile, the firm has filed a separate motion before the Federal High Court seeking a stay of execution of the May 11 ruling pending the determination of its appeal, arguing that continued enforcement could prejudice the substantive case.