Court of Appeal Rules in Favor of First Bank, Orders Sale of $64m Crude on Obaigbena’s Cargo Ship

The Court of Appeal has overturned a previous ruling of the Federal High Court and delivered judgment in favor of First Bank of Nigeria in its long-running dispute with General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL), a company owned by media mogul Nduka Obaigbena.

In its ruling, the appellate court ordered the immediate sale of crude oil cargo valued at $64 million onboard the FPSO Tamara Tokoni. The court held that GHL fraudulently diverted proceeds from earlier crude oil sales instead of repaying loans secured from First Bank Plc.

Obaigbena, the publisher of ThisDay newspapers and founder of the ARISE media group, has faced repeated controversies over unpaid debts. In 2015, he was accused of receiving N670 million from former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki during the arms procurement scandal, after which he reportedly fled the country for a period.

With this fresh judgment, industry analysts say Obaigbena’s financial woes could deepen, as the court’s directive effectively strips GHL of control over its crude assets. Meanwhile, observers have sardonically suggested that he might find lessons in billionaire Femi Otedola’s new book, Making It Big, which recently climbed to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list.