KEY POINTS
- A court ordered Indimi’s oil firm to pay his daughters $43.51 million in unpaid dividends.
- The sisters argued their 10% stake was reduced without consent, denying them earnings.
- The ruling contradicts the company’s claim that their shares were previously bought out for $10 million.
A Nigerian court has directed an oil exploration company owned by billionaire businessman Mohammed Indimi to pay $43.51 million to his daughters, Ameena and Zara Indimi, following a protracted legal dispute over unpaid dividends.
The ruling was delivered by the Federal High Court of Nigeria, ending years of litigation tied to dividend payments from offshore oil operations run by Oriental Energy Resources Limited, the privately owned firm founded by Indimi in 1990.
Dispute Over Shareholding and Dividends
Court filings indicated that the sisters claimed they jointly owned a 10 percent equity stake in the company, which entitled them to a share of dividends from a payout pool estimated at about $435 million.
They alleged their shares were reduced without their consent, effectively excluding them from a major dividend distribution and costing them millions in earnings.
After reviewing the case, the court agreed with their claims and ordered the company to pay the full $43.51 million representing unpaid dividends.
While the judgment resolved the core dispute, full details of the judge’s reasoning and how the exact figure was calculated have not yet been publicly disclosed. The decision nonetheless marks a major turning point in a family legal conflict that had largely remained out of public view, according to The Africa Report.
