Nestoil Lenders’ attention has been drawn to false reporting regarding the Judgement of the Supreme Court on 1st June 2026, and it has become pertinent to set the record straight.
The decision of the Supreme Court is, at best, a pyrrhic victory for Nestoil and Neconde and relates to interim preservative Orders granted by the Court of Appeal, which froze the accounts of Ernest Azudualu-Obiejesi and Nnenna Obiejesi.
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The Order of the Court of Appeal, which the Supreme Court set aside, also granted protection to the Receiver/Manager in the exercise of his duties. For the avoidance of doubt, the Supreme Court’s decision DID NOT remove the Receiver/Manager.
The decisions also did not declare that Nestoil is not Owing its humongous indebtedness to the Nestoil Lenders. The Supreme Court merely ordered that the parties return to the lower Court to address the substantive issues of Nestoil’s humongous indebtedness, which currently stands at US$1,084,157,611.20 and NGN469,426,076,115.87.
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Prior to the Court Action, Nestoil obtained several bilateral loan facilities from 8 Lenders dating back to 2010 and serially defaulted on all the various repayment obligations. Nestoil subsequently proposed restructuring the bilateral loan facilities to bring the Lenders into a Global Club to ease the administration of the indebtedness. Lenders, in good faith, agreed to this restructuring, but Nestoil has again serially defaulted on its repayment obligations since the restructuring became effective in 2023.
Despite multiple demand letters sent to Nestoil, Nestoil failed and/or ignored its repayment obligation, which now stands at US$240,512,240.98 and NGN141,205,803,653.61.
At the same time, evidence available to Nestoil Lenders showed Nestoil had been diverting monies required for the repayment of Nestoil’s obligation to the Banks/Lenders to other companies owned by or controlled by the principals of Nestoil. As a result, Nestoil Lenders exercised their rights under the contract to declare the entire facility due and immediately payable.
Upon approaching the Court to prevent further diversion by Nestoil, the Lenders obtained interim preservative Orders from the Federal High Court. The Federal High Court subsequently held that the interim order had lapsed by effluxion of time despite all protestations. Nestoil then changed its corporate structure to avoid further enforcement/recovery actions. Lenders then went to the Court of Appeal to restore the interim preservative orders and the Court of Appeal granted the Application pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.
Nestoil appealed the restoration of the preservative orders to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s decision of 1st June 2026, in short, was to the effect that the preservative orders had lapsed and that parties should deal with the issues of the substantive debt at the lower Court.
For Nestoil, Neconde, and her principals to misconstrue the Apex Court’s decision as though it absolves them of their debt is only indicative of the borrower’s recalcitrance, which forced the Lenders’ hands to commence these legal actions in the first place.
We assure members of the public, depositors and the investing public that Lenders will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to recover the sums owed by Nestoil to the Lenders. Gone are the days when borrowers believed they could treat shareholders’ and depositors’ funds with levity and expect to get away with such criminal impunity.
Recovery action has only just begun. Every penny owed will be recovered and repaid to noble lenders committed to building the economy.
