On Wednesday, the Federal High Court that is now sitting in Abuja prevented the administration of Kogi state from closing down Dangote Cement PLC, which is located in the Obajana neighborhood of the state.
The state government is prohibited from disturbing or stopping the operations of Dangote Coal Mines Ltd. and Dangote Industries Ltd. in the Okaba at Ankpa and Olamaboro Local Government Areas, respectively, according to the judgment that was handed down by Justice Binta Nyako.
Following the submission of two separate ex parte motions by the firms before the court, the judge issued an order of interim injunction.
In the motion dated FHC/ABJ/CS/1876/22, the corporations had sued the Kogi House of Assembly, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, and the Mining Cadastre Office as the first to fourth defendants.
Both Dangote Coal Mines Ltd. and Dangote Industries Ltd. are participating as plaintiffs in this action.
In a similar fashion, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was added to the suit as a defendant in the second motion that was filed with the identifier FHC/ABJ/CS/1877/22.
The Applicants, through their attorney Mr. Ricky Tarfa, SAN, specifically prayed to the court for an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants/respondents or any person purporting to act on their behalf from extending the exercise of the defendants’ oversight functions outside of the concurrent and residual legislative list and unto the executive-legislative list of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), pending the hearing and determination of the motion o notice. This request was made before the
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As well as, for an order of interim injunction restraining them or any person purporting to act on their behalf from making any resolution or order, disrupting, suspending, or shutting down the facilities or activities of the applicants anywhere in the state in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2) and item 32 of part 1 second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution. [citation needed] (as amended).
In addition to this, it requested an order of interim injunction that would prevent them from giving further effect to any resolution, declaration, or judgment that purported to halt the activities of the applicants in the state in violation of the Constitution from 1999.
Ms. Regina Okotie-Eboh, who appeared for the firms and moved the motions on Wednesday, stated that the most important aspect of the case was the defendants’ restriction of the applicants’ operations, violation of their privacy, and disruption of their business.
Her argument was that the defendant’s decision to shut down the cement mill would have a negative impact on the manufacturing of cement in Nigeria and put the security of thousands of jobs in danger.
Even though they did not have the authority to do so, Okotie-Eboh claimed that the Kogi State House of Assembly and the Commissioner for Justice in the state sabotaged the cement manufacturing.
She reported to the court that the Commissioner had made additional threats to conduct another raid on the company.
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As a consequence of this, the individuals who filed the application requested that the court issue an order to preserve the content of the lawsuit awaiting the outcome of the hearing and the subsequent decision.
After hearing the arguments presented by the attorneys, Justice Nyako decided to grant the requests for interim orders, but she also set a deadline of 14 days for the delivery of the motion on notice to the defendants.
After that, the judge decided to postpone the hearing of the case until November 22.