Nigerian oil heirs Ameena and Zara Indimi accuse Stanbic IBTC of foul play in $30 million Oriental Energy judgment fight

Twin sisters Ameena Indimi-Dalhatu and Zara Indimi are accusing Stanbic IBTC Bank of allowing approximately $30 million in Oriental Energy funds to move out of the company's accounts after a court order required those accounts to be frozen, The Africa Report has reported, deepening a legal battle between the daughters of Nigerian oil billionaire Muhammadu Indimi and his company that has already produced a $43.5 million judgment in the sisters' favour.

The accusation against Stanbic IBTC is the sharpest development yet in a garnishee enforcement process that is exposing fault lines between the court's directives and the banks' actual compliance. The court has adjourned to allow the banks to respond to potential contempt proceedings, meaning the sisters' dispute with their father's company has now pulled multiple tier-one Nigerian lenders into its orbit.

How the dispute reached this point

The underlying case traces to dividends declared by Oriental Energy Resources in 2015. The sisters allege they each held a 5% equity stake in the company — a combined 10% — which would have entitled them to a share of a dividend pool the company reportedly put at approximately $435 million. They claimed those shareholdings were reduced to approximately 0.6% each without their consent, effectively stripping them of the bulk of what they said they were owed.

Oriental Energy contested the account. The company told the court that the daughters had voluntarily transferred their shares and received payments in return, describing those payments as a settlement totalling several million dollars across family members. The company's audited accounts reportedly showed the dividends as paid.

Justice N.E. Maha of the Federal High Court in Abuja sided with the sisters. On January 2, 2026, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/853/2022, the court ordered Oriental Energy to pay $43,510,000 in unpaid dividends plus 10% per annum interest until full settlement. Muhammadu Indimi, named in The Africa Report's earlier reporting as making efforts to prevent company accounts from being debited following the ruling, has not publicly commented on the judgment. Sons of Indimi separately filed affidavits against the sisters in February 2026.

The garnishee order and what followed

Having secured the judgment, the sisters moved immediately to enforce it through garnishee proceedings, a legal mechanism that allows a creditor to recover funds held by third parties on behalf of a debtor. On February 13, 2026, Justice P.O. Lifu granted a garnishee order nisi in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/96/2026, directing 4 banks to identify and freeze all Oriental Energy accounts nationwide: Stanbic IBTC Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank. The order covered current, savings, fixed deposit and domiciliary accounts across all branches.

What happened next, according to court filings and the sisters' legal team, is where the controversy lies.

Access Bank and Zenith Bank submitted affidavits disclosing accounts linked to Oriental Energy, apparently complying with the directive. GTBank submitted an affidavit but the sisters allege it failed to disclose 2 accounts containing substantial Oriental Energy funds, and that GTBank subsequently tried to invoke a garnishee order from a High Court in Akwa Ibom State as a justification for withholding the money it had disclosed.

Stanbic IBTC's response drew the sharpest allegations. The bank did not disclose any Oriental Energy accounts in its affidavit. Instead, it claimed Oriental Energy was indebted to it under an outstanding credit facility of approximately N900 million. The sisters allege that in the period after the garnishee order was served, Stanbic IBTC allowed withdrawals from multiple Oriental Energy accounts, and that the sum that slipped through amounts to approximately $30 million.

At a March 13, 2026 hearing, plaintiff counsel Mr. Mene-Josiah put the allegations formally to the court, arguing that certain banks had either provided inaccurate disclosures or permitted continued account activity in violation of the court's directive. The counter-affidavits filed by the sisters described the conduct as pointing to possible collusion aimed at frustrating enforcement of a valid judgment.

Legal experts told Nigerian media that banks served with a garnishee order have an unambiguous obligation to disclose all relevant accounts and must not permit withdrawals unless the order is suspended or set aside by a competent court. Failure to comply exposes banks to contempt proceedings, which can carry serious consequences.

The court's next move

The case was adjourned to April 16, 2026 to give the banks an opportunity to respond to the contempt allegations. Oriental Energy has simultaneously filed an appeal against the January judgment and applied to set aside the garnishee order. A successful application for a stay of execution at the appellate level could pause enforcement entirely while the appeal is heard, complicating the sisters' efforts to recover the money the court has already awarded them.

Who Muhammadu Indimi is

Muhammadu Indimi is one of the most prominent businessmen in northern Nigeria. He founded Oriental Energy Resources in 1990, building it into one of Nigeria's better-known privately held upstream oil operators with assets in the Niger Delta. Because Oriental Energy is not publicly listed, its financial position and internal share structure are not subject to mandatory public disclosure, a characteristic that the sisters' lawyers argued made it easier for ownership changes to be carried out without transparency.

Indimi is widely recognised in Nigeria for his philanthropy, particularly in Islamic education and healthcare in the northeast. His prominence makes the public airing of a family dispute of this scale unusual, and the courtroom battle has drawn sustained attention both for the sums involved and for what it reveals about governance inside privately held Nigerian oil companies.

For the sisters, the $43.5 million judgment was a significant victory. Whether they can actually collect it — and whether the banks that may have frustrated that collection will face consequences — will be determined in the weeks and months ahead.