Glister Success Limited, a mining company, has alleged the anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC- Ilorin zonal office) of harassing its employees and impounding its vehicles arbitrarily and for no justifiable reasons.
The mining company in a letter of complaint sent to the Executive Chairman of EFCC on its behalf by a law firm, Biodun Abdu-Raheem & co, noted that the alleged incessant harassment by officials of the anti-graft agency necessitated the decision to seek protection and intervention.
‘Our client is a mining company licensed by the Federal Government of Nigeria since 1997 and it processes marble into calcium carbonate as basic raw materials for industries in the country. Our client has never defaulted in its responsibilities and obligations to the Federal Government, state government and the host communities and it has always complied with regulatory requirements as contained in the Nigeria Mineral & Mining Act of 2007.
Our client informed us that on the 20th day of March 2024, officials of the EFCC, Ilorin zonal office, without any lawful basis, seized the company’s truck and goods (marble rock) and that the officials in question also went ahead to detain our client’s employees in a manner that clearly violated their right to personal liberty as contained in Section 35 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) to say the least.
The said letter added that despite the presentation of all valid documents including licenses, relevant evidence and confirmation of payment of necessary Federal Government dues, the EFCC officials declined to release the truck and the detained employees keeping them in custody for more than four weeks after which they were released upon a court order in a suit with docket number HOG/MISC.8/2024.
The counsel’s letter further alleged that still “on November 28, 2025, officials of the commission from the same office returned to seize our client’s goods, arrest and detain its employees in respect of a similar issue.
As a result of this, the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development made submissions to the Ilorin Zonal office confirming the validity and legality of the mining operations carried out by our client. However, the goods and the truck remain in the custody of the commission till date while the workers were released a week after their arrest’..
Noting that the company’s workers are ‘in constant fear of daily harassment and threat to detain them without any justification, Biodun Abdu-raheem & co submitted that ‘the acts of these officials constitute intimidation of our client and a breach of fundamental rights’.
That was not all, the law firm has also respectfully requested the office of the executive chairman to:
1. Investigate the activities of the Ilorin Zonal Office in this regard;
2. Identify the perpetrators and caution them;
3. Order the release of our client’s goods and truck from the EFCC Custody;
4. Order the cessation of indiscriminate arrest and detention of our client’s employees.
Given the continuing risk of violation of the company’s rights, the firm has also respectfully urged the office of the executive chairman (Mr. Ola Olukoyede) to treat this complaint with utmost urgency.
