Court Backs UBA’s Bid to Recover N156.03bn Debt from Stallion Group

The Federal High Court in Lagos has upheld United Bank for Africa (UBA)’s efforts to recover an alleged debt of N156.03 billion from Stallion Group and Vaswani Brothers.

Justice Daniel Osiagor delivered the ruling on Friday, affirming the bank’s authority to take possession of properties pledged as security for the disputed debt. The decision marks a significant development in a legal dispute that has lasted nearly three years.

The case dates back to October 2023, when Justice Akintayo Aluko ordered Nigerian banks to freeze the accounts of Stallion Nigeria Limited, Von Automobile Nigeria, Stallion Motors, The Honda Place and company director Sunil Vaswani.

The court also authorised UBA to take control of assets belonging to Stallion Nigeria Limited and its affiliated companies in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano.

The affected companies and individuals subsequently challenged the order, seeking its reversal. However, the dispute continued, with the defendants contesting the bank’s recovery measures and the appointment of a receiver-manager.

In his latest ruling, Justice Osiagor upheld the appointment of Romeo Ese Michael as UBA’s receiver-manager, empowering him to enforce the security arrangements put in place to recover the outstanding debt.

The judge also rejected the defendants’ argument that the amount owed was less than N156.03 billion. He explained that disagreement over the precise amount outstanding did not invalidate the underlying indebtedness or prevent the bank from pursuing recovery.

According to the court, the applicable debt recovery principles remained in force as long as the debt existed, even where the parties were still disputing the figures or attempting to reconcile their accounts.

The court further restrained the defendants from diverting payments due to them from government agencies into other accounts, reinforcing measures intended to protect the bank’s recovery efforts.

The ruling strengthens UBA’s position in its long-running dispute with Stallion Group and Vaswani Brothers over the alleged N156.03 billion debt.