LAGOS/Nigeria: A Federal High Court in Lagos has issued an interim order restraining commercial banks, financial institutions and electronic payment platforms in Nigeria from releasing funds and financial assets worth up to $100 million to R28 Ltd., Adebisi Adebutu and Michael Humphries, pending further proceedings in a dispute over Chappal Energies.
The order, granted by Justice Lewis Allagoa, also prohibits the respondents from accessing the funds through accounts held in their corporate names or through proxies and shell entities.
The court made the order following an ex-parte application by Ufoma Joseph Immanuel, founder and managing director of Chappal Energies, alongside Chappal Energies Offshore Ltd. and Project Odinmin Investment Ltd.
In a related interim injunction, the judge restrained R28 Ltd., Adebutu and those acting on their behalf from taking over or interfering with the operational premises, physical assets and commercial equipment belonging to Chappal Energies Offshore Ltd. and Project Odinmin Investment Ltd.
The restrictions are to remain in place pending the hearing and determination of the applicants’ motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.
Justice Allagoa also directed the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to preserve the existing corporate records of the two applicant companies. The commission was ordered not to register changes to their directorship, shareholding or signatory authority submitted by the specified respondents while the application remains pending.
The case, marked FHC/LAG/FR/500/2026, was filed on October 14, 2026, by the applicants through their legal representatives, including K. Braithwaite.
The applicants had asked the court to prevent the respondents from transferring or dissipating funds up to the $100 million limit and from interfering with the management and assets of the companies. They also sought to preserve the companies’ corporate records until the court could consider the substantive application.
According to the order, the judge granted the interim relief after considering the ex-parte application and the submissions of the applicants’ counsel.
The matter has been adjourned until December 4, 2026, for further proceedings.
The latest court intervention is part of a wider series of legal disputes involving Immanuel and Adebutu over the control and allocation of shares in Chappal Energies, an energy company founded by Immanuel in 2022.
The order is interim in nature. The underlying dispute remains before the courts, and the injunction does not in itself constitute a final determination of the parties’ claims.
