Police Shut Down Nestoil Headquarters After Court Approves Asset Seizure Over $1bn Debt
Story: written by Myra October 29,2025
Heavily armed police officers on Tuesday stormed and sealed the Lagos head office of Nestoil Limited, after a Federal High Court ruling empowered First Bank of Nigeria and its investment arm, FBNQuest Merchant Bank, to take possession of the company’s assets over a mounting debt reportedly exceeding $1 billion.
The enforcement action followed a Mareva injunction issued on October 22, 2025, by Justice D. I. Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Lagos against Nestoil, its subsidiary Neconde Energy Limited, and their top executives, Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi and Nnenna Obiejesi.
The certified order, endorsed by Deputy Chief Registrar Longs G. Longwa, instructed the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations) to provide full security assistance to court officials and the appointed receiver-manager during the seizure process.
Court documents indicate that FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited and First Trustees Limited claim the companies and their directors are indebted to them to the tune of $1.01 billion and ₦430 billion as of September 30, 2025, through several loan facilities.
As part of the ruling, the judge ordered the freezing of all bank accounts and equity holdings linked to the companies in more than 20 financial institutions, including GTBank, Stanbic IBTC, Fidelity Bank, Citibank Nigeria, Standard Chartered Bank, Polaris Bank, and Wema Bank.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Abubakar Sulu-Gambari, was appointed as receiver-manager to take over Nestoil and Neconde Energy’s operations and assets — including their stake in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42, jointly managed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The ruling further directed regulators such as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the NNPC to cooperate with the receiver in overseeing the asset’s management and revenue streams.
Security agencies, including the Nigerian Navy and the State Security Service (SSS), were also mandated to support the handover and protect the affected properties.
The matter has been adjourned until November 7, 2025, when the court will hear the substantive motion.
