The Incorporated Trustees of the Society of Quarry and Mining Operators in Ogun State last week obtained an injunction barring the state Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, or anyone acting under his authority from stopping their dredging activities in Ogun State.

Justice Mohammed Yunusa of a Federal High Court in Lagos made the order last week following an ex parte application by the quarriers’ lawyer, Mr. A.R. Ogunbade.

The judge said the order would be in force till the determination of the substantive suit filed by the applicants.

The quarriers claimed to have obtained the required operational lease and permit from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel to carry out small scale mining operations in Ogun State in areas of the state including Gidimo and Obafemi Owode Local Government Area.

They, however, told the judge that agents of the Ogun State Government had been waging a battle against their dredging activities in the state.

They claimed that the agents usually seized their trucks, demanding that they should pay a fine of N180,000 to recover the trucks.

They claimed that in spite of their financial obligation to the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, agents of the Ogun State Government had been making “unscrupulous and discriminatory demand for royalty, by way of fees and other levies, from the applicants,” an exercise which they claimed was an imposition of double taxation.

“The 3rd defendant is always moving in company with heavily armed policemen, loaded in up to four patrol vehicles. They install barricade on the road and sometimes shoot into the air all in the name of collecting undue revenue for the state government.

“The threat posed by the involvement of armed policemen scared the applicants and the transporters alike, with the attendant disruption of their daily operations and income.

“It is now imperative that on the basis of the above, the applicants have been subjected to psychological, economic, mental and physical torture, stress and trauma, which can be better imagined.

“There is also the threat of accumulating loss of income and potential legal action against the applicants, in the face of failure to meet their supply contract with their various customers,” the General Secretary of the association, Gabriel Odetayo, averred in the 20-paragraph affidavit filed in support of their exparte application.

After granting their prayer, Justice Yunusa adjourned further proceedings in the case till September 8, 2015.

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