Woman miner decries oppression, abuse of office by Enugu govt

…Queeneth is an illegal miner on the run – MIREMCO

…woman miner meant to refund over N7m as part of agreement – Partner

A woman miner, Augustine Queendarline, MD/CEO Queeneth Global Resources and owner of Small-scale Mining Lease 42791, has decried an alleged oppression of women miners and abuse of power by the Enugu State Government tnrough Samuel Okoro, A Special Assistant on mining to Governor, Peter Mbah, and State Chairman, Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee (MIREMCO).

The miner is also demanding N100 million in damages from Oluwaseun Ogunsanya, managing director, of African Pit and Queries over an alleged breach of contract.

Speaking while briefing newsmen in Abuja, Queendarline alleged that the Special Assistant to Governor Mbah had not only encroached on her licensed property but had abrogated to himself monopoly rights, where all coal mined in the city is sold to him against the norm of a free, competitive market.

She also alleged that Oluwaseun Ogunsanya, whom she had entered a partnership agreement with had failed to honour the terms of the agreement but rather had conspired with Okoro to not only encroach on her legal coordinates as stated in her legally obtained license but to also oppress her and other women miners in the State.

Of her colleagues, she said one of the women (Grace Eze), had died while mining underground (Tunnel mining) for Oluwaseun Ogunsanya, while the second, Uchechukwu Agbachi, a heavily pregnant woman, had been incarcerated since December 11, 2024, for demanding payment of the coal allegedly stolen from her legally licensed coordinates.

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Queendarline in her outrage said following several calls and letters, both from her and from the office of the Women in Mining, Enugu State Office to Oluwole Otunbosun, State Zonal Mines Office, Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals, Mining Cadastre Office, Abuja and the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), she had found no justice.

Queendraline is however calling on all stakeholders to ensure that the State Government review its policies so as not to allow a monopoly in the State and also demanding N100,000 million naira in damages from the African Pits and Quarries over breach of contract and encroachment.

SIMON OKORO, MIREMCO CHAIR, SA MINING TO THE GOVERNOR

Responding to the allegations raised by the woman miner, Simon Okoro, SA to the State Governor and Chairman, Enugu state MIREMCO alleged “the woman is an illegal miner, who has used her license to not only mine illegally but also oppress communities using Police influence.”

He said, “The woman is an illegal miner, she is a criminal, we are looking for her. She went to one of the communities where she does illegal mining. She goes into such communities and destroys the crops of some subsistence farmers in the name of coal mining using her Police friends to intimidate the farmers without paying them any compensation.

“Even if you have a licence you are supposed to pay compensation if you destroy economy crops as she had done, but through the corruption of the law she uses Police power to destroy farmers’ crops and shuts the helpless villagers from getting justice.

“What they do is go and get an SSML license from Abuja in an area that’s maybe inside the river or a far area then they will take the licence to a place where they don’t have a license. We’re looking for that woman and no matter how she hides we’ll get her

“We understood that one of the challenges coal suppliers are facing is that the markets are not regularised, so normally we have what is called a mineral buying centre where the miners bring their coal, this helps to ensure the market is regularized so if an illegal miner who pays nothing to the government is mining as brings to the same market, prices will crash absolutely and that’s why we shut down the illegal miners so as to formalize the process and bring all players together and also ensure big time miners are able to complete in the same market competitively, so it is not about me it’s about a system that’s approved.”

African Pit and Quarries CEO, speaks

Oluwaseun Ogunsanya, CEO/Managing Director of African Pit and Quarries responded, “So, it is very, very strange for me when she is raising dust where there ought to be no dust.

“We had an agreement, and I made advance payments and additional payments amounting to seven million naira (N7,000,000), with the agreement that if we do our exploration and do not find it commercially viable, she will refund our money.

“We did the drilling and found that we could not work there. In between these drilling activities, she came at some point with some problems that she needed money to solve, I borrowed her additional money and after this period, I communicated to her that we are unable to work there.

“We have been working in Enugu State and had issues with the state government, where they said we were illegal. Eventually, we paid one billion Naira to the state government and subsequently, it came out that we are no longer illegal. When we settled and paid the one billion naira, we became more or less a partner with the State Government.

“And the State Government said they were going to give us sites where we will mine for them, they will get their own parts, we’ll get our own parts and we’ll move on.

“Fast forward, we started working on one of the sites that was given to us by the state government. And she’s someone that has been doing some what they call illegal mining all over Enugu for a while before we came and did the big operations that we are doing right now.”

“And it so happens that these licenses are overlapping somehow. The state government took us and gave us access and operated there, which we have even since these issues came up, because it became a story of, her saying it’s her own, and the state government saying that they are the ones in control.

“However, the spot where she had taken us, I told her clearly, we cannot work there, and we never for one day mined that place”.

The Company CEO, who noted that some of his equipment had been destroyed in one of the communities during the period, said he was reluctant to discuss further on the matter as he was aware the case was already in court and was waiting for the court’s decision to know the next actions to take to claim their money from the woman miner”