The Mining Marshals have defended the continued closure of the Stone Rockers Nigeria Limited quarry site in Abuja, insisting that the facility remains a crime scene in an ongoing criminal prosecution before the Federal High Court.
The clarification followed a petition by Stone Rockers Nigeria Limited to President Bola Tinubu and other government officials over the 13-month closure of its operations, which the company alleged was unlawful and unsupported by any court order. The allegations have attracted considerable media attention in recent days.
However, the Commander of the Mining Marshals said the quarry was not sealed as an administrative sanction but because it constitutes the locus criminis in a criminal matter pending before the court.
According to him, Stone Rockers Nigeria Limited and its director, Kolawole Olaiya, are standing trial in Charge No. FHC/ABM/VR/338/2026 over allegations of illegal mining within a mineral title area legally belonging to Lord’s Career Ventures Nigeria Limited.
He said the prosecution followed extensive investigations triggered by a series of petitions submitted by the complainant company over more than one year.
The petitions, he explained, were subsequently referred by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development and the Minister of Interior to the Mining Marshals through the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for investigation and prosecution.
The Commander said investigators arrested the defendants at coordinates identified as longitude 7°17’24″E and latitude 8°52’11″N, which, according to the findings of the Mining Marshals, fall within Mining Lease No. 000395 ML belonging to Lord’s Career Ventures Nigeria Limited.
He said the agency’s position was further supported by a letter dated January 23, 2026, from the Mining Cadastre Office, which reportedly confirmed that the disputed coordinates are within the complainant’s licensed mining area.
The Mining Marshals also disclosed that some of the evidence to be tendered before the court includes correspondence allegedly written by a member of the defence team, Mohammed Olanrewaju Jibril, during the investigation.
According to the Commander, the letter, dated August 12, 2025 and allegedly written on the instructions of the defendants, contains admissions relevant to the allegations before the court.
He said the prosecution’s case was not limited to the disputed coordinates and correspondence, describing the documentary evidence gathered during the investigation as substantial.
The agency also questioned what it described as attempts by the defendants to seek administrative intervention while criminal and civil proceedings arising from the dispute remain before the courts.
“The issues raised by the defendants are already the subject of judicial proceedings,” the Commander said, cautioning against actions capable of undermining or prejudicing the ongoing cases.
He further alleged that the defendants were pursuing “every extrajudicial means” to frustrate the criminal proceedings, arguing that their latest petition to the President did not warrant official consideration.
The Commander said the petition was part of what he described as a broader effort to shape public opinion after unsuccessful attempts to harass him through petitions to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.
He, however, maintained that public campaigns and institutional pressure would not deter the Mining Marshals from pursuing the case.
“No matter the level of blackmail and harassment deployed by illegal mining and erring industry players, the Mining Marshals will not be deterred from ensuring that the full weight of the law is pressed very tightly against everyone who breaks the laws in the Nigerian mining sector,” he said.
The Commander also appealed to media organisations to strengthen their editorial gatekeeping processes to ensure that reports lacking sufficient merit or verification do not gain undue traction in the public domain.
He said the media remained a critical stakeholder in the Federal Government’s ongoing reforms in the solid minerals sector and had an important role to play in promoting lawful and responsible mining practices.
On the status of workers initially arrested during enforcement operations, the Mining Marshals said prosecutors had earlier amended the charge to exclude them because they acted as employees of a disclosed principal and might not have possessed the criminal intent required for prosecution.
