Following the latest ruling of the Court of Appeal disqualifying the legal professionals appointed by the respective organisations, NESTOIL LIMITED and NECONDE ENERGY LIMITED within the alleged debt restoration litigation instituted by the duo of FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited and First Trustees Limited, it has develop into mandatory for us to make clear the information for the general public and set the document straight.
This matter started as an alleged debt restoration motion instituted by First Merchant Bank Limited and and First Trustees Limited in opposition to our organisations NESTOIL, NECONDE and Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi and Nnenna Obiejesi in Suit No.: FHC/L/CS/2127/2025. We had been served with the originating processes filed within the matter on the workplace deal with at 41/42 Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, along with an ex parte order dated 22 October 2025 issued by the Federal High Court.
Upon being served, every of us (the Defendants) promptly engaged respected authorized practitioners to characterize us, together with M. A. Banire & Associates ( for NESTOIL); Wole Olanipekun & Co. (for NECONDE); Afe Babalola & Co. (for Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi); and Chief Chino Obiagu, SAN (for Nnenna Obiejesi). However, far-reaching ex parte orders had been obtained behind us and with out affording us the advantage of being heard. When we grew to become conscious of those developments, our legal professionals instantly challenged the ex parte orders and utilized for them to be put aside. They additionally took steps to make sure that the substantive go well with filed in opposition to us was mounted for listening to on 12 December 2025.
Within days after the ruling of the Federal High Court setting apart the ex parte orders and fixing the substantive matter for December 12, 2025, the Plaintiffs (FBNQuest) filed one other Motion , ex parte once more, on the Court of Appeal, and obtained, inside 24 hours of submitting the mentioned Motion Ex Parte, recent ex parte orders in opposition to us in a fashion we nonetheless discover incomprehensible until date. Our respective legal professionals instantly challenged the validity of those ex parte orders. Interestingly, the legal professionals to the Plaintiffs had earlier filed and served a Motion on Notice in opposition to us on the Court of Appeal which they withdrew behind us to pave method for his or her Motion Ex Parte. However, the Plaintiffs, performing via the individual they purportedly appointed as receiver, filed one other Motion on the Court of Appeal claiming that our legal professionals (for NESTOIL and NECONDE) must be disqualified from representing us and that they, via their appointed receiver, must be those to nominate legal professionals for us in an alleged debt restoration matter they instituted in opposition to us. We should observe that so far as we’re involved, this alleged receivership shouldn’t be in existence. The matter earlier than the Court, as we’ve been made to grasp by our legal professionals, each internally and externally, is only an alleged debt restoration motion.
Our legal professionals duly contested the applying in search of to disqualify them from representing us on this alleged debt restoration matter and supplant their illustration with legal professionals appointed by the appointee of the alleged collectors. Bewilderingly, our legal professionals knowledgeable us that the Court of Appeal delivered its ruling yesterday whereby the Court of Appeal mentioned that WE HAVE NO RIGHT to nominate legal professionals that can defend the case in opposition to us. The implication of the Court of Appeal ruling is that the Plaintiffs (FirstBank Merchant Bank Limited and First Trustees Limited) who appointed the so referred to as receiver, are the identical individuals that can (via their appointed receiver) appoint legal professionals to defend the case on our behalf in opposition to the Plaintiffs. How the plaintiff would be the one to nominate legal professionals to defend the defendants he has sued baffles the creativeness. The equity and justice on this we simply should go away to the court docket of public opinion for now.
Hitherto, these identical Plaintiffs have been strenuously attempting to smear our legal professionals and our respective firms by falsely alleging bribery which by no means existed and quoting completely different fictitious alleged {bank} debt figures.
The avalanche of malicious and false tales being sponsored and circulated on on-line media is unprecedented.
It is nevertheless our agency resolve that this injustice that we’ve no proper to defend ourselves, shall not be allowed to slide by, as a result of failure to battle in opposition to injustice is helping to perpetuate identical.
