Court Warns First Bank, Access, Zenith Chiefs

The Managing Directors of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Access Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc have been cautioned by the Federal High Court in Abuja that they could face imprisonment for allegedly disregarding an existing court order in a simmering dispute involving a multibillion-naira oil asset.

The warning came through a series of Form 48 notices issued after the court’s interim directive of November 6 in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2369/2025. The case, filed by Neconde Energy Limited, White Dove Shipping Company Limited and others, centres on control of an onshore oil asset and the FSO Ugo Ocha, a facility tied to the OML 42 Joint Venture in which the Federal Government holds a majority stake.

Copies of the notices, dated November 13, were delivered to the First Bank Managing Director at the bank’s Marina head office in Lagos as well as its Abuja main branch. The notices reminded the banks that the court had ordered all parties to maintain the status quo pending the hearing of an interlocutory injunction.

The court’s order explicitly barred parties from taking any step that could affect the disputed assets or alter the subject of litigation. The notices stated that failure to comply could be treated as contempt of court, attracting penalties that include possible imprisonment of the bank chiefs.

A copy of the November 6 order was attached to the notices. The directive had refused an ex parte request and instead instructed all parties to preserve the current state of affairs until the motion for interlocutory injunction is determined.

The Form 48 notices mark the preliminary stage of contempt proceedings, serving as formal alerts to the banks that any further action contrary to the court’s directive would be taken as deliberate defiance.

The notices were served between November 7 and 13 on the various defendants, including the three banks and other parties named in the suit. The court has fixed December 4 for hearing on the motion for interlocutory injunction and warned that any breach of its order before that date will attract serious consequences.