Federal High Court in Lagos has ruled in favour of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc in a N156 billion debt recovery dispute involving Stallion Group, its subsidiaries and the Vaswani brothers.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a judgment delivered on Friday, October 16, 2026, Justice Daniel Osiagor upheld UBA’s appointment of Romeo Ese as receiver/manager to recover the outstanding debt and affirmed his authority to take possession of properties pledged as security for the loans.
The court also upheld the validity and enforceability of the mortgage arrangements, affirmed the liability of the guarantors and restrained the defendants from diverting payments due to them from government agencies.
Justice Osiagor held that the defendants did not dispute their indebtedness to UBA but challenged the amount claimed by the bank. He ruled that the reconciliation of accounts between the parties did not extinguish the underlying debt or invalidate the bank’s right to enforce its security.
The judge also dismissed an objection by Barbedos Ventures Limited, the 12th defendant in the suit, which argued that its consent was required for the mortgage arrangements. The court held that the company had failed to establish a proprietary interest in the mortgaged properties.
The dispute dates back to 2023, when UBA instituted proceedings against Stallion Nigeria Limited and several companies associated with the conglomerate over an alleged debt of approximately N156.03 billion.
According to the bank, the loans were granted in 2014, with properties in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano pledged as security. UBA also alleged that the terms of a government vehicle supply contract required payments to be made into the group’s account with the bank.
The bank claimed that some payments were instead directed to an offshore account, contributing to the dispute over the outstanding obligations.
In November 2023, UBA obtained interim court orders to enforce its security over assets belonging to Stallion Group and its subsidiaries. The affected properties included industrial and commercial assets in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano.
Stallion Group had previously disputed the bank’s account of the debt, maintaining that it had made substantial repayments and was engaged in discussions with UBA over account reconciliation and restructuring.
However, following the latest judgment, Stallion Group said it disagreed with the ruling and had filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal. The group also said it had sought a stay of execution pending the determination of the appeal.
