Nestoil not under receivership, company insists amid court battle

By Lukman Olabiyi

Nestoil Limited has firmly denied reports alleging that Nestoil and Neconde are under receivership, describing the claim as entirely false.

The company says the claim is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public and interfere with an ongoing lawsuit filed by FirstBank Trustees and FBNQuest Merchant Bank against Nestoil and others.

In a statement, Abimbola Attitebi, Head of Legal at Nestoil, clarified that the plaintiffs’ ex parte application seeking judicial recognition of their “purported receiver-manager” was refused by the court.

He added that all applications seeking judicial confirmation of the alleged receivership, filed by the plaintiffs on behalf of secondary lender banks led by FirstBank, are still pending before the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Attitebi stressed that any publication suggesting that Nestoil or Neconde is under receivership is not only false but also prejudicial and amounts to contempt of court.

According to him, an inchoate receiver-manager appointment without court recognition has no legal authority to take control of the defendants’ assets, including freezing the company or directors’ accounts.

He further noted that the plaintiffs and their purported receiver-manager “cannot blow hot and cold at the same time,” emphasising that Nigerian law prohibits self-help.

“Having submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the court, the plaintiffs must await the court’s final determination of their suit seeking judicial recognition of the alleged receivership and other related reliefs,” the statement added.