Nestoil Lenders’ attention has been brought to false reportage about the Judgement of the Supreme Court on 1st June 2026 and it has become pertinent to set the records straight.
The decision of the Supreme Court is, at best, a pyrrhic victory for Nestoil and Neconde and relate to interim preservative Orders granted by the Court of Appeal which froze the accounts of Ernest Azudualu-Obiejesi and Nnenna Obiejesi.
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 parties return to the lower Court to deal with the substantive issues of Nestoil’s humongous indebtedness which currently stands at US$1,084,157,611.20 and NGN469,426,076,115.87.
Prior to the Court Action, Nestoil obtained several bilateral loan facilities from 8 Lenders dating back to 2010 and serially defaulted in all the various repayment obligations. Nestoil subsequently proposed a restructuring of the bilateral loan facilities to bring the Lenders into a Global Club for the ease of administration of the indebtedness.
Lenders in good faith agreed to this restructuring but Nestoil again serially defaulted in their repayment obligations since the restructuring became effective in 2023. Despite multiple demand letters sent to Nestoil, Nestoil failed and/or ignored to meet their 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 that the entire facility is due and immediately become 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 proceeded to change their corporate structures to avoid further enforcement/recovery action.
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 1stJune 2026, in short, was to the effect that the preservative orders had lapsed and that parties to should deal with the issues of the substantive debt at the lower Court.
For Nestoil, Neconde and her principals to misconstrue such a decision of the Apex Court as though the decision absolves them of their debt is only indicative of the recalcitrance of the borrower which forced the hands of the Lenders 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 believe they can treat shareholder and depositor’s funds with levity and expect to get away with such criminal impunity.
Recovery action has only just begun. Every penny owed will be extracted and paid back to noble lenders committed to building the economy.
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