KEY POINTS

• A court issued an order to end First Bank’s freezing of General Hydrocarbons Limited assets stemming from its loan dispute.
• A court determined the injunction violated an older order requiring arbitration before recovering assets from General Hydrocarbons Limited.
• The court decided to dismiss the injunction because First Bank did not show the earlier court decision about arbitration before issuing it.

The Federal High Court of Lagos defeated a Mareva injunction protecting General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL) while its $225.8 million First Bank of Nigeria Limited loan dispute remained unresolved.

Justice Dehinde Dipeolu made a ruling to end the Mareva injunction because it interfered with a concurrent court’s previous order that banned First Bank from continuing the loan recovery steps.

The court recognized that First Bank did not properly communicate to the judge the decision made by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa which ordered parties to take disputes to arbitrage before freezing cash stores.

Loan dispute and injunction overturned

A legal dispute started when First Bank obtained an ex-parte court order on December 30, 2024 enabling bank-wide asset freezes on GHL’s bank accounts.

An injunction blocked three company directors Nduka Obaigbena, Efe Damilola Obaigbena, and Olabisi Eka Obaigbena from transferring their assets throughout Nigerian territory.

GHL filed a challenge against the injunction because it believed First Bank had obtained the order through nonrevealed vital information specifically the preceding arbitration directive established by Justice Lewis-Allagoa.

According to court assessment GHL obtained a favourable outcome which asserted the Mareva injunction produced financial damage to stakeholders and operated at odds with the original arbitration-based determination.