First Bank, Nduka Obaigbena battle over alleged $225.8 million debt
The Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, has granted an order restraining all commercial banks in Nigeria from releasing or dealing in all monies and assets up to $225.8 million due to Nduka Obaigbena from any account maintained by him.
Mr Obaigbena is the chairman and editor-in-chief of THISDAY Media Group and Arise News Channel.
The court also blocked all commercial banks from releasing or dealing in all monies and assets up to the said amount belonging to Efe Damilola Obaigbena, Olabisi Eka Obaigbena and General Hydrocarbons Limited, an oil and gas firm in which all the three are directors and shareholders.
Another order barring the banks from dealing in or releasing such monies and assets due to the company, its agents, privies, subsidiaries and sister companies with the banks up to the same sum was issued, according to court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.
First Bank of Nigeria Limited and FBN Quest Trustees Limited had on 27 December 2024 approached the Federal court to seek the orders in respect of a total claim of $225.8 million being alleged outstanding indebtedness on General Hydrocarbons’ account with First Bank as of 30 September 2024.
The legal action pertains to “the loan facilities granted to the first defendant by the first plaintiff/applicant pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.”
First Bank Vs Obaigbena: A background
Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Limited, chaired by Jide Omokore, an associate of a former Minister of Petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke, took a facility from First Bank in 2011.
The $490 million loan was to fund the company’s operating and capital expenditure requirements for the drilling of four oil wells with proven reserves (together known as the Forcados assets) as well as its Strategic Alliance Agreement with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
The credit was secured with Atlantic Energy’s assets and rights through the agreement, while First Bank had charge over the company’s collection accounts.
In the years that followed, the loan became problematic after Atlantic Energy defaulted in its repayment obligation.
“In line with our commitment to address the legacy asset quality challenges, exposure to Atlantic Energy, our biggest NPL ( non performing loan), was written off in the second quarter,” Adesola Adeduntan, First Bank former CEO said in 2019.
Writing off the N126 billion loan helped First Bank pared down its non-performing loan ratio to 14.5 per cent as of June 2019 from 25.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year, according to its earnings report.
In a letter to Yemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, dated 7 November 2024 and seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Obaigbena stated how in 2020 he facilitated a meeting between Oba Otudeko, the then chairman of FBN Holdings and Mele Kyari, the managing director of NNPC Limited.
“His problem was that the NNPC under the late Maikanti Baru, then GMD, NNPC had refused to sign the security documents for the now bad, non-performing loan to Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Nigeria Limited (Atlantic Energy) for OML 26, OML 42, OML30 and OML 34 under separate Strategic Alliance Agreements between Atlantic Energy and NPDC Limited, claiming it was a fraudulent scheme to defraud the Federal Government by the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke,” Mr Obaigbena stated.
The editor-in-chief of THISDAY Media Group noted that it was obvious during the meeting, which he claimed to be part of, that the facilities granted to Atlantic Energy by First Bank did not follow due process.
“FBN was now faced with an unsecured and non-performing exposure of $718M and was on the verge of becoming a systemic risk to the banking sector,” he stated.
“It was discovered that FBN had given this loan recklessly without security as part of a scheme that funded Diezani Allison-Madueke and Kola Aluko, (details of these are still being investigated by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, NCA,” Mr Obaigbena further stated.
According to the letter, Mr Otudeko sought Mr Obaigbena’s help to rescue First Bank from an imminently disastrous situation, causing the two to agree to work together since the latter held an approved oil mining lease (OML) from ex-President Umaru Yar’Adua.
Mr Obaigbena said the licence was then ratified by former President Muhammadu Buhari, resulting in OMLs 120 and 121 being granted to General Hydrocarbons in 2021.
Following a series of meetings between First Bank and General Hydrocarbons, he said there was an agreement based on the fact that he held a valid OML award that First Bank would finance the optimum exploration, development and production of OML 120.
Part of the terms, he added, was that General Hydrocarbons would share the profit equally with First Bank over eight years to help the latter “reduce the holes in their books” caused by their bad loans particularly the facilities availed to Atlantic Energy.
“However, we made it clear that we are not Atlantic Energy and would never assume their obligations which was then being pursued by AMCON and EFCC and our central role was to assist FBN return to good standing with a totally different transaction structure as GHL has no nexus with Atlantic Energy.”
The letter stated that First Bank sold its outstanding exposure as an Eligible Bank Asset (EBA) to AMCON at a discount to be paid off by its share of profit from the deal it earlier reached with General Hydrocarbons.
It added that the lender agreed to a clawback provision with AMCON, meaning that in the event that the outstanding exposure was not paid, AMCON would recover the EBA from First Bank’s books
The THISDAY newspaper editor-in-chief stated that First Bank, AMCON and General Hydrocarbons signed an outstanding exposure tripartite deed allowing Global Hydrocarbons to guarantee payment of a pending of a now discounted outstanding exposure of $600 million in naira on the books of the bank.
The deal, he claimed, was in exchange for financing the optimum exploration, development and production of OML 120 by FBN.
“Once GHL signed the Outstanding Exposure Tripartite Deed effective 31st December 2021, FBN’s account which was then classified by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was now whole again having escaped a loan loss provision of 302Bn Naira against a profit of 151Bn Naira ultimately declared for the year ending 31st December 2021,” the document stated.
“Had GHL not signed and guaranteed the EBA to AMCON, FBN’s loss for 2021 would have been 161Bn Naira, a whopping amount for the financial sector at that time, when the exchange rate was N400 – $1 having regard to the fact that this loan had been classified and non performing since 2015 (six years before).”
Mr Obaigbena alleged that the bank put stumbling blocks in the financing of the development of OML 120 in breach of the outstanding exposure tripartite deed.
More than seventy utilisation requests made by General Hydrocarbons in respect of the facility took First Bank between seven and 67 days to pay instead of five days, he added, causing significant losses to Global Hydrocarbons.
“FBN’s reluctance to pay as at when due started soon after consultants appointed and working for FBN and AMCON started making demands of GHL for “fees” not connected with the transaction. Indeed, GHL told the consultants that this would amount to bribery and corruption (we have evidence).”
“Since FBN got its way and avoided the 160Bn Naira loss following GHL’s signing of the Outstanding Exposure Tripartite Deed and with its account now performing, FBN has failed, refused and/or declined to perform its obligations under the MOU and the Outstanding Exposure Tripartite Deed, contributing to GHL’s loss of the Blackford Dolphin drill ship for which we are currently facing claims of over $100M (One Hundred Million Dollars) now in Arbitration.”
The document further noted that Global Hydrocarbons requested a $53 million facility from First Bank on on 28 August 2024, which was granted two months after by which time the lender “smuggled in a new variable of the appointment of an Independent Asset Manager” under a framework agreement that sought to effectively replace key components of the foundational MOU, unknown to the Tripartite Deed between AMCON, FBN and GHL and also unknown to the Petroleum Industry Act.
Mr Obaigbena alleged the framework document intended to give First Bank full control over OML 120.
“Mr. Governor, we have been left with no choice but to go to court and arbitration to preserve our fundamental rights and our rights under the agreements in the face of FBN’s attempts to clubber and bully us out of existence,” he said.
“We are seeking to enforce the provision of our MOU which allows us to raise finance independent of FBN when they fail to do so, for which they have failed abysmally. After over three and half years (3.5) years, all we have received from FBN is bad faith.”
But on 27 December 2024, First Bank and FBN Quest approached the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, seeking among other things an order forbidding all the commercial banks in the country from releasing or dealing with all monies and assets up to $225.8 million due to the THISDAY editor-in-chief from any account maintained by him.
Among other prayers sought by the plaintiffs was a similar order restraining the banks from releasing or dealing in all monies and assets up to the said amount belonging to Ms Efe Damilola Obaigbena, Ms Olabisi Eka Obaigbena and General Hydrocarbons Limited.
The banks were also barred from dealing in or releasing such monies and assets due to the company, its agents, privies, subsidiaries and sister companies with the banks up to the same amount.
On 30 December 2024, Justice D.I. Dipeolu of the Lagos court granted the orders and adjourned the matter to 20 January 2025.
The court also granted an order mandating commercial banks operating in Nigeria to file and serve on the plaintiffs’ solicitors within seven (7) days an affidavit declaring the sum standing to the credit of Global Hydrocarbons, Mr Obaigbena, Ms Efe Damilola Obaigbena and Ms Olabisi Eka Obaigbena.
Cesl Oyo Production BBS Limited, Cesl Oyo Production O & M Limited, Vitol SA, Mercuria Energy Trading SA, Trafigura PTE Limited and Glencore Energy UK Limited were also mandated by the court to file and serve the plaintiffs a statement disclosing the quantum of products lifted from OML 120 since the start of production in OML 120.
