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Adebisi Adebutu, the Nigerian businessman who heads investment group R28 Holdings, has taken 86 per cent ownership of Chappal Energies, the Mauritius-registered oil company that bought Equinor out of Nigeria, following a $100 million refinancing and months of boardroom conflict.
R28, which was previously a minority shareholder, brought in the money to stabilise a company that had run into mounting difficulty. The fund launched a $100 million rights issue described as emergency capital to prevent bankruptcy.
Chappal was founded in 2020 by Ufoma Joseph Immanuel. In December 2024 it completed a $1.2 billion acquisition of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company, ending the Norwegian state-controlled group's 32 years in the country. Months earlier it had agreed to buy TotalEnergies' Nigerian assets for $860 million, and in December 2025 it closed $430 million of oil financing.
The acquisitions were followed by strain. Immanuel was suspended by the board after being placed under investigation by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the State Security Service. He has been in detention for around four months. No charges against him have been made public and no wrongdoing has been established.
The EFCC petition came from R28 Adebutu's vehicle over a disagreement about ownership and control of shares in entities connected to Chappal. Billionaires.Africa reported on 7 September that Immanuel was in prison over a dispute involving $1.5 million.
Immanuel's family has petitioned President Bola Tinubu, alleging he was handcuffed to a bed at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and unable to move despite medical advice that he walk to prevent blood clots. Civil society groups have described the treatment as inhuman and degrading. These are allegations by his family and by campaigners; they have not been independently verified and the authorities' response is not known.
Adebutu is group president of R28 Holdings, a diversified private investment company with interests across the Nigerian economy. He is the third son of Chief Kessington Adebutu, the businessman behind Premier Lotto. He studied at Swansea University and INSEAD.
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