The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday fixed January 22, 2026, for ruling and report on Nestoil Limited’s request for injunctive relief against eight Nigerian banks and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) regarding the release of its account statements, as well as arguments surrounding receivership proceedings initiated against the company following a Notice of Default.
Justice Mohammed Umar fixed the date after taking arguments from counsel on both sides.
Nairametrics previously reported that Nestoil Limited had dragged the banks before the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking restraining orders to halt the receivership proceedings initiated against it.
Legal developments
In Nestoil’s motion on notice dated October 28 and seen by Nairametrics, its lead counsel, Mofesomo Tayo-Oyetibo (SAN), sought an order of interlocutory injunction pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
The motion seeks to restrain the defendants, by themselves, their officers, agents, servants, receivers/managers, liquidators, or any persons acting under their authority, from enforcing or further enforcing the Notice of Default dated May 30, 2025, or any similar notice issued pursuant to the Common Terms Agreement (CTA) executed in September 2022.
He further requested that the defendants be restrained from publishing or indicating in any public medium or credit bureau that Nestoil, its obligors, or guarantors are indebted to them.
Tayo-Oyetibo argued that the respondents were allegedly making “wrongful demands and threats” against his client.
He maintained that Nestoil has “substantially performed its obligations under the CTA and underlying facility agreements,” adding that the company has repaid hundreds of millions of dollars under the said agreements.
However, he noted that by letters dated May 13 and May 30, 2025 — referred to as “the May Letters” — the 10th respondent issued demand notices to Nestoil under the CTA, alleging indebtedness.
The counsel urged the court to hold that the banks’ alleged refusal to provide Nestoil with its account statements, while relying on “opaque computed figures” to issue debt recovery threats, was unlawful and oppressive.
In a separate motion on notice filed by counsel for the banks, Babajide Okun (SAN), also seen by Nairametrics, the respondents urged the court to strike out Nestoil’s suit for being incompetent and an abuse of court process.
Okun argued that the case constituted a “multiplicity of actions,” as the same parties and subject matter were already being litigated before the Federal High Court in Lagos.
He noted that the Abuja suit attempts to relitigate issues already pending before the Lagos Division.
He further contended that Nestoil, which is currently under receivership, lacks the legal standing (locus standi) to initiate the suit without the consent or approval of the appointed receiver/manager.
What transpired in court
At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, Tayo-Oyetibo (SAN) represented Nestoil, while the banks were represented by Victor Ogunde (SAN).
- Tayo-Oyetibo maintained that his application for an injunction had nothing to do with abuse of court process, as claimed by the banks.
- He argued that the Abuja case specifically concerns the banks’ alleged refusal to release his client’s bank statements amid an alleged $1.01 billion loan dispute.
- Ogunde responded that Nestoil could not be seeking injunctive relief against his clients when the Court of Appeal had recently given an order restraining such relief, and the appellate case is pending.
“They cannot be asking this court to embark on a collision course with the Court of Appeal,” Ogunde argued, adding that the suit was filed without the consent of the company’s receiver/manager.
- Tayo-Oyetibo countered that in an email from FBNQuest in May 2025, the bank allegedly stated it would not release Nestoil’s account statements despite claiming the company owed $122 million at the time, a figure that later escalated to $1 billion, according to him.
- According to him, such a drastic change within a few months “is too wide for you to kill someone’s business.”
- He added that the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) requires a receiver/manager to notify the company directly, rather than simply placing a newspaper advertisement as was allegedly done.
Ogunde urged the court to dismiss the application, insisting that there was no contradiction regarding Nestoil’s indebtedness and that the trial court could not be compelled to issue an injunction against the receiver/manager.
- Tayo-Oyetibo further argued that nothing in the referenced Court of Appeal ruling prevents his client from pursuing its “right to request bank statements.”
- Ogunde maintained that the status quo remains that a receiver/manager is in place, and the Court of Appeal has ordered that the receiver/manager should not be restrained.
- After hearing both sides, the judge adjourned the matter to January 22, 2026, for ruling/report.
Backstory
Nairametrics previously reported that armed officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) recently sealed the headquarters of Nestoil Limited in Victoria Island, Lagos, following a Federal High Court order freezing the company’s assets, bank accounts, and shares over an alleged $1.01 billion and N430 billion debt owed to FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited and First Trustees Limited, both subsidiaries of First Bank of Nigeria Limited.
Videos obtained by Nairametrics showed police personnel surrounding Nestoil’s premises, with an inscription on the wall reading: “Possession taken by court.”
The enforcement followed a Mareva injunction granted by Justice D. I. Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, on October 22, 2025. The order authorized the takeover of assets belonging to Nestoil Limited, its affiliate Neconde Energy Limited, and their promoters, Ernest and Nnenna Azudialu-Obiejesi, across more than 20 financial institutions in Nigeria.
The court also directed all affected financial institutions to disclose, under oath, details of funds or investments belonging to Nestoil and its affiliates within seven days of being served with the order.
That order was later reversed by another judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos.
FBNQuest subsequently approached the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which issued an interim injunction restraining Nestoil and others from interrupting the duties of the receiver/manager.
