consortium Foreign financial institutions including Glencore Energy UK Limited, African Finance Corporation and Mauritius Commercial Bank have brought legal action against First Bank Nigeria Trustees Limited and its appointed trustee, Abubakar Sulu Gambari SAN, in an illegal attempt to seize Nekonde Energy Limited’s interest in Oil Mining Lease 42 (OML42).
The lender, which previously extended a credit facility to Neconde Energy, appointed FBN Trustee as security trustee under the terms of the loan agreement. But they now claim that the FBN trustee has breached its fiduciary duties by abdicating its neutral role and acting in a way that undermines the senior foreign financier’s contractual rights.
In court filings, the foreign investors accuse the FBN trustee of orchestrating the illegal expropriation of Nekonde’s oil assets by secretly creating a second layer of security for the company’s stake in OML 42 without the forced consent of the original lenders. They claim that such consent was expressly requested and unequivocally refused, making any subsequent action unauthorized and void.
Despite this refusal, the FBN Management Committee is said to have proceeded with the execution of the indictment regarding Nekonde’s OML 42 concession. The lenders allege that this action constitutes a gross breach of trust, violates the terms of the binding loan, and is a deliberate attempt to transfer control of the assets to a Nigerian banking group that has no legitimate claim on Nekonde.
The lawsuit further alleges that Nekonde Energy has no outstanding obligations to the Nigerian banks that currently claim rights to OML 42. On this basis, foreign financiers argue that the securities placed in favor of these banks lack legal basis and that all enforcement actions arising therefrom should be declared null and void.
They also challenge the legitimacy of the trustee’s appointment, arguing that it arises from claims made on invalid collateral arrangements. Therefore, in their view, the recipient state’s authority is flawed and cannot support the legitimate acquisition of Nekonde’s oil interests.
The case has already attracted attention in legal and financial circles, with analysts saying it raises widespread concerns about governance standards, trustee accountability and investor protection in Nigeria’s banking and energy sectors. Allegations that a trustee with ties to a major financial institution may seek to override contractual safeguards and redirect strategic oil assets are expected to unsettle domestic and international investors.
OML 42 is considered a significant upstream oil asset and its ownership structure has commercial and strategic implications. Foreign financiers claim that the integrity of Nigeria’s trust agreements and secured lending framework is now at risk and warn that the outcome of the dispute could affect future foreign investment decisions in the country.
In the lawsuit, the lenders ask the court to set aside the disputed securities, vacate the actions taken by the FBN Trustee, remove Abubakar Sulu Gambari SAN from the receivership, and award damages for losses allegedly suffered as a result of the disputed transactions.
They argue that the issue goes beyond a simple commercial disagreement and is a test of whether a trustee can lawfully invent a security interest, ignore agreed contractual terms, and attempt to misappropriate assets to which it has no valid title. A central principle for foreign financiers is that fiduciaries must uphold their duty of neutrality and cannot unilaterally rewrite rules to the detriment of the financial institutions they are appointed to protect.
