Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the temporary freezing of bank accounts belonging to Plural Oil Marketing Limited and two of its directors over an alleged debt of N3.17 billion and $835,486.76 owed to Providus Bank.
The order, granted on October 7, 2025, followed an ex parte application filed by the bank through its lawyer, Mitchel Aribisala. The court directed about 30 commercial and merchant banks across Nigeria to restrict access to all accounts linked to the company and its directors up to the disputed суммы.
As part of the ruling, the banks were instructed to place a post-no-debit restriction on the affected accounts pending the hearing of the substantive suit. Several payment platforms, including NIBSS, Interswitch, Opay, MoMo PSB, Unified Payments, Hydrogen Payment Services, and Hope PSB, were also ordered not to process any debit transactions on the accounts until further notice.
The defendants in the suit include Plural Oil Marketing Limited, Babatunde Olukunle Oyefolu, and Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Oyefolu. The court further directed all financial institutions involved to submit details of accounts linked to the defendants’ Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), including balances and six months of transaction history.
Justice Aluko allowed substituted service of court processes on the two individual directors but declined the same request for the company, noting that corporate entities must be served differently. He also directed Providus Bank to file an undertaking as to damages if the order is later found to have been wrongly granted.
According to an affidavit filed by the bank, the debt arose from credit facilities granted to Plural Oil for the importation of Base Oil used in lubricant production. The bank alleged that despite multiple restructuring efforts between 2021 and 2023, the company failed to repay the loans.
Providus Bank further claimed that the financed products, which were pledged as collateral, were sold without remitting proceeds. This led to a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in January 2024 after the products were allegedly removed and sold in violation of the loan agreement.
The bank also presented personal guarantees signed by the two directors, making them liable for the company’s obligations.
However, Plural Oil and one of its directors have challenged the freezing order, asking the court to set it aside. Through their lawyer, Sulaiman Usman (SAN), they argued that the order was unconstitutional, oppressive, and obtained without proper service of court documents.
In a supporting affidavit, Oluwatobiloba Oyefolu stated that the company only became aware of the order after receiving communication from the bank’s legal representatives instructing financial institutions to freeze the accounts.
The defendants argued that the order unfairly affected unrelated accounts and violated their constitutional rights to fair hearing and property protection. They also accused the bank of attempting to criminalise what they described as a civil dispute, alleging that the EFCC detained one of the directors for seven days under harsh conditions.
The court’s interim order will remain in effect until the pending motion is heard and determined.
