United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has taken over the assets of Stallion Nigeria Limited and its subsidiaries in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kano following an order of the Federal High Court in Lagos concerning an alleged N156,026,032,804.84 debt.
The financial institution’s receiver-manager, Romeo Michael, and court bailiffs protected by the police in the three cities executed the interim orders made by Justice Akintayo Aluko on October 20, 2023.
After hearing Messrs. Temilolu Adamolekun and Mohammed Usman make the ex parte motion on behalf of the plaintiffs and applicants, the judge issued the order. Mr. Anthony Chilaka provided an affidavit in support of the motion.
The order subsists, pending a hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The case was adjourned until November 20 for a hearing of the motion on notice.
The affected assets, which were taken over on Friday, October 10, include mortgaged property known as “all that piece or parcel of land together with any building thereon” at Plot 371, Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
“Plot 353, Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Plot 370, Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Kilometre 17, Lagos Badagry Motorway, Lagos State; and No. 54, Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano State, Nigeria.”
The order also affects the defendants’ sums, totaling N156 billion in commercial, microfinance, and other financial institutions across the federation.
The 1st to 4th plaintiffs/applicants in the suit are UBA Plc, UBA Cameroon SA, Cote D’Ivoire SA, and Romeo Ese Michael.
The 1st to 11th defendants/respondents are Stallion Nigeria Limited (in receivership), Von Automobile Nigeria Limited, Popular Farms and Mills Limited, and Havana Nigeria Limited.
The other defendants are KRBL Food Industries Limited, Qingqi Motorcycle Manufacturing Limited, Stallion Auto Keke Limited, Stallion Motors Limited, The Honda Place Limited, Yokohama Construction Limited, and Mr. Sunil Vaswani.
The plaintiffs and applicants also listed all the commercial banks in Nigeria, Kuda Microfinance Bank, Moneypoint Microfinance Bank, Piggyvest Technology Limited, Cowrywise Financial Technology Limited, Opay Digital Services, the Federal Ministry of Defence, and the Federal Ministry of Finance as 12th to 44th respondents in a Mareva Order to protect the rest of the suit.
In granting UBA’s prayers, Justice Aluko also restrained the defendants, their directors, shareholders, employees, officers, and agents from interfering with or frustrating the receiver or manager from exercising all the powers vested in him or performing his duties as receiver of the mortgaged properties.
The court further granted an interim injunction restraining the defendants or anyone else from tampering with, remaining in, selling, leasing, or dealing in any manner with any of the defendants’ assets or mortgaged properties covered by the order.
It also gave the first eleven defendants and their representatives a mareva injunction that said they couldn’t deal with any of the N118.6 billion or any foreign currency equivalent funds that were held with the twelfth through eleventh respondents. This was while the motion on notice was being heard and decided.
The order also barred the Federal Ministry of Defence and Federal Ministry of Finance from releasing to the defendants or any of their affiliates any fund belonging to or accruing to any of the defendants.
According to the affidavit deposed on October 18, 2023, by Chilaka, Group Head, Recovery and Remedial Management Department of the 1st to 3rd plaintiffs’ companies, UBA in 2014 gave various loans to the first defendant (Stallion Nigeria Limited).
