Ernest Obiejesi loses again as Court lifts EFCC shield on firms linked to Nestoil Group, clearing the way for a probe into a $1 billion debt dispute

A Federal High Court in Abuja has lifted the legal shields that had been protecting 2 companies linked to billionaire Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi's Nestoil Group from scrutiny by Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, Premium Times reported on April 20, removing barriers that had been in place since February.

The court vacated ex parte orders it had granted on February 25 and March 2, 2026, which had barred the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from investigating Amaranta Oil and Gas Development Limited and Jonescreek Hydrocarbon Limited. Both companies are connected to the Nestoil Group.

With the injunctions now discharged, the EFCC is free to open an investigation into the companies if it decides to proceed. The court adjourned the substantive suit to May 26, 2026.

What the companies were trying to block

Amaranta and Jonescreek had gone to court seeking to halt prospective EFCC investigations into their operations. They also asked for orders restraining lenders to Nestoil and Neconde Energy from petitioning or reporting alleged criminal infractions to the commission, arguing that the matters involved commercial disputes within the upstream oil and gas sector rather than criminal conduct.

The court had initially agreed, granting interim reliefs that covered the 2 companies. Those injunctions also restrained several financial institutions, including FBN Quest Limited, First Bank of Nigeria, Access Bank and Zenith Bank, from petitioning the EFCC or facilitating its intervention. Court-appointed receiver/manager Abubakar Sulu-Gambari was similarly restrained from taking action that could draw in the anti-graft agency.

Now those orders are gone.

The debt at the center of it all

The broader dispute is rooted in a debt recovery case involving more than $1 billion and N430 billion allegedly owed by Nestoil, Neconde Energy and their principal promoters. The lenders, seeking to recover what they are owed, appointed Sulu-Gambari as receiver/manager over the companies' assets.

That decision triggered a legal battle that has moved between courts. The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal have issued conflicting rulings on the receivership. The appellate court ultimately reinstated the receiver/manager and barred interference with his mandate pending the resolution of the appeal, but litigation across multiple fronts has continued.

The lifting of the EFCC protection orders removes one layer of legal insulation from the Nestoil-linked entities at the center of the dispute.

Who Ernest Obiejesi is

Obiejesi, who turns 66 this month, is one of Nigeria's most prominent oil industry entrepreneurs. Born in Okija, Anambra State, he joined his father's general merchandise trading business as a teenager after the Nigerian Civil War interrupted his schooling in the late 1960s. He went on to earn a degree in accountancy from the University of Benin, added an MBA from the same institution, and eventually completed a programme at Harvard Business School.

In 1983, he founded Obijackson West Africa Limited, a trading company with offices across Nigeria and in Cotonou. Eight years later, in 1991, he moved into oil and gas with Nestoil, an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning company that started with 10 staff and grew to over 3,000. Nestoil became Nigeria's largest indigenous EPCC firm, working with Shell and other international operators. One of its biggest projects was co-constructing half of Shell's $1.1 billion Nembe Trunk Line in the Niger Delta.

His flagship Lagos headquarters, Nestoil Tower, was the first building in West Africa to receive LEED standard certification. Beyond Nestoil, he built a portfolio that includes Neconde Energy, which holds a 45% stake in OML 42 acquired for $585 million, Smile Communications Nigeria, and Nesto Aviation Services. He also chairs the Obijackson Foundation, a private charity focused on education, healthcare and Igbo cultural heritage in the southeast.

This is not the first time the EFCC has been in the picture around Obiejesi's business affairs. The agency previously confiscated his Ikoyi residence, and Nestoil was blacklisted by the Central Bank in 2012 after allegedly defaulting on a N13.5 billion ($85 million) loan obtained to build the Nestoil Towers office complex.

His wife Nnenna Obiejesi, who studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and the London School of Economics, serves as Group Executive Director of Nestoil.

The May 26 hearing on the substantive suit will be the next significant date in a case that now sits firmly back in contested territory.