*Justice Deinde Dipeolu of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, reserves the court ruling till a later date regarding General Hydrocarbons Limited鈥檚 application seeking to vacate the order freezing its assets, accounts, and related entities by First Bank of Nigeria

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, Nigeria, has reserved till a later date its ruling on the application by General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL), an oil-servicing firm, seeking to vacate the order freezing its assets, accounts and related entities.

绿帽献妻 gathered that First Bank of Nigeria Limited, through Victor Ogude, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), its counsel, however, opposed the move, and requested Justice Deinde Dipeolu to uphold his standing order freezing the assets, pending the outcome of a substantive suit aimed at recovering a loan of $225.8 million extended to the oil company.

First Bank had made the application Friday, January 17, 2025, while responding to an application filed by GHL seeking to lift the order, which it contended was obtained through the concealment of important facts.

Justice Deinde Dipeolu, December 30, 2024, had granted an ex-parte order restricting all commercial banks from releasing or dealing with any assets or monies belonging to General Hydrocarbons Limited, its agents, subsidiaries, or sister companies up to the amount claimed by the plaintiffs.

The Judge also restrained Nduka Obaigbena, Efe Damilola Obaigbena and Olabisi Eka Obaigbena 鈥� all Directors of General Hydrocarbons Limited 鈥� from transferring or dissipating any of their assets located in Nigeria, whether movable or immovable until the court decides on the Motion on Notice for an interlocutory injunction.

Other respondents in the suit include GHL 121 Limited, Aimonte Nigeria Limited, Calidin Global Resources Limited, CESL Oyo Production BBC Limited (owner of FPSO Tamara Tokoni), CESL Oyo Production O&M Limited, and VITOL SA.

The others are Mercuria Energy Trading SA, Trafigura PTE Limited, Glencore Energy UK Limited, Schlumberger Nigeria Limited, Schlumberger Overseas SA, and Baker Hughes Oilfield Services.

In the defendant鈥檚 application for the lifting of the order, Abiodun Layonu, SAN, counsel to GHL, also argued that First Bank鈥檚 suit represents an abuse of court process, report said.

Layonu also contended that the financial institution failed to disclose an earlier order granted by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, which restrained First Bank from taking further action to recover the loan until the parties subjected themselves to arbitration.

The GHL counsel further asked the court to dismiss the Mareva Injunction, arguing that the court was misled into granting it, and same has caused significant financial harm to GHL.

In response, Ogude submitted that First Bank did not deceive the court to obtain the order.

The bank鈥檚 counsel emphasised that this client provided all relevant facts in its affidavit supporting the suit.

He as well noted that the parties involved in Justice Lewis-Allagoa鈥檚 case and those before Justice Dipeolu are different, and that nothing in the earlier order prevents First Bank from pursuing the current matter under different agreements.

Ogude also argued that no law restricts their constitutional right to seek judicial redress for disputes.

He, therefore, asked the court to strike out or dismiss GHL鈥檚 suit as incompetent and set a date for the hearing of the substantive suit.

After considering the arguments presented by the parties鈥� counsels, Justice Dipeolu reserved the ruling for a later date, which will be communicated to both parties, report stated.

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