The Supreme Court has set aside an order of the Court of Appeal freezing the assets of Neconde Energy Limited, Nestoil Limited and two others, over an alleged $1.1 billion indebtedness to FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited and First Trustees Limited.
A five-member panel of the apex court held, in a judgement delivered on Monday, that the three-member panel of the appellate court went beyond their powers in granting an exparte application against the appellants.
Delivering the unanimous judgment Justice Stephen Adah berated the appellate court for assuming jurisdiction and issuing an injunction against Neconde and Nestoil, when the matter was not properly before the court.
Besides, the Supreme Court accused the appellate court of misuse of the judicial process, particularly when the Court of Appeal issued a stay of proceedings at the Federal High Court, Lagos.
The dispute stems from debt recovery proceedings instituted by lenders, including FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited and First Trustees Limited, against Nestoil and Neconde Energy over financing arrangements tied to oil assets and operations.
In October 2025, the Federal High Court in Lagos granted an ex parte Mareva injunction freezing the companies’ assets, bank accounts, and shares across more than 20 financial institutions.
However, the companies challenged the order, arguing that it automatically lapsed after 14 days under the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules once a motion to discharge was filed.
In November 2025, Justice Daniel Osiagor held that the ex parte order had expired by operation of law and was no longer subsisting.
But, Justice Yargata Nimpar of the Court of Appeal on November 29, granted an interim restorative injunction returning the control of Nestoil’s assets and operations to the receiver manager appointed by the banks.
He ruled that all steps Nestoil took after the November 20 ruling were set aside. The Mareva injunction continued to operate.
However, this decision of the appellate court has been set aside paving the way for the matter to continue at the trial court as well as Neconde and Nestoil oil fully in charge of their company.
It would be recalled that, the Supreme Court had, last month, reserved judgment in the appeal filed by Neconde Energy Limited seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal order that restored control of the company’s assets and operations to a receiver-manager appointed by a consortium of lenders.
Neconde Energy Limited is the appellant in the matter, while the respondents are FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited, First Trustees Limited, Nestoil Limited, Ernest Azudialu‑Obiejesi and Nnena Azudialu‑Obiejesi.
A five-member panel of the apex court, headed by Justice Lawal Garba, reserved judgement in the matter after hearing arguments from parties and the exchange of briefs by counsel.
Lead counsel to Neconde, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN had argued that the interim restrictive orders granted by the Court of Appeal in November 2025 were still in force, preventing company staff from accessing corporate facilities and operations.
Olanipekun told the court that the appellate court acted “without jurisdiction” in granting the orders, insisting that there was no valid record of appeal before the court to warrant the proceedings.
According to him, the process leading to the order was fundamentally defective and ought to be set aside.
Olanipekun submitted that the appellate court failed to consider several issues raised by Neconde and exceeded its jurisdiction by effectively determining who should represent the company in court.
He maintained that established legal principles recognise a litigant’s constitutional right to be represented by counsel of its choice and urged the Supreme Court to set aside the decision.
Counsel representing the Receiver Ameh Ogie, adopted his brief of argument and asked the court to dismiss the appeal. Similarly, Counsel representing the first respondent, Victor Ogude, SAN, also adopted his brief of argument and asked the court to dismiss the appeal same with the counsel for the second respondent, M. B. Ganiyu, who was appointed by the Receiver.
The other respondents represented by Chino Obiagwu, SAN and Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN aligned with the submissions of the appellant seeking the apex court to set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal and to allow the appeal.
Counsel to Nestoil Limited aligned with Olanipekun’s submissions, contending that the notice of appeal was never properly served, a condition he said was necessary to activate the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal.
The dispute stems from debt recovery proceedings instituted by lenders, including FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited and First Trustees Limited, against Nestoil and Neconde Energy over financing arrangements tied to oil assets and operations.
In October 2025, the Federal High Court in Lagos granted an ex parte Mareva injunction freezing the companies’ assets, bank accounts and shares across more than 20 financial institutions.
However, the companies challenged the order, arguing that it automatically lapsed after 14 days under the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules once a motion to discharge it was filed.
On November 20, 2025, Justice Daniel Osiagor held that the ex parte order had expired by operation of law and was no longer subsisting.
The dispute later shifted to the question of who had authority to represent the companies in court following the appointment of a receiver-manager.
In January 2026, the Court of Appeal disqualified Olanipekun and Muiz Banire from representing Neconde and Nestoil respectively, holding that the companies’ boards lacked powers to appoint counsel after the receivership took effect.
END
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