The legal dispute surrounding mining rights in Endo Community, Nasarawa State, has taken a fresh turn as Lideal Mines Limited filed an appeal against a Federal High Court order restricting access to the contested mining sites.
The company approached the Court of Appeal in Makurdi to challenge the May 11, 2026 ruling which stopped all parties from carrying out mining activities in the disputed cadastral areas pending the final determination of the case.
Through its lead counsel, Martin Ojonimi Atojoko, Lideal Mines described the lower court’s decision as a serious judicial error, arguing that the ruling indirectly validated actions already being contested in the main suit.
According to documents made available to journalists, the company accused the Nasarawa State Government of attempting to interfere unlawfully with mining operations licensed by the Federal Government.
“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 in its appeal.
Lideal Mines argued that the court should not have enforced executive directives whose legality is still being challenged before the substantive suit is decided.
The appeal forms part of an ongoing legal battle at the Federal High Court in Abuja, where the company is contesting the alleged suspension of its operations and what it described as an attempted takeover of its mining site.
The firm is demanding ₦5 billion in damages against the Nasarawa State Government, the state Attorney-General and Ganfeng Lithium Industry Limited.
It is also seeking court declarations nullifying suspension and evacuation notices allegedly issued in February and March 2026, which the company claims violated constitutional provisions.
According to court filings, Lideal Mines alleged that more than 160 armed security personnel, including police officers and other operatives, were deployed to block the company from accessing Cadastral Unit 3 located in Endo Village.
“The 1st Defendant thereafter deployed over one hundred and sixty armed security personnel comprising officers of the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies, who forcefully prevented the Plaintiff from accessing or conducting any activity at the site,” the affidavit stated.
The company further claimed that the disputed mining area was later handed over to Ganfeng Lithium Industry Limited, a move it described as illegal, unconstitutional and without legal backing.
Lideal Mines maintained that the Nigerian Constitution and the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 place control of mineral resources solely under the authority of the Federal Government.
In addition to the appeal, the company has also filed an application before the Federal High Court seeking a stay of execution of the May 11 ruling until the appeal is fully determined.
The ongoing dispute has continued to generate tension over mining rights, constitutional powers and the role of state governments in regulating federally approved mining operations in Nasarawa State.
