Conoil Plc and NIMEX Petrochemicals Ltd. are currently engaged in a legal dispute before the Federal High Court in Abuja, centered on Nimex's claim for an $8,488,752.88 judgment debt through pending garnishee proceedings.

Nimex initiated the lawsuit against Conoil, also involving five commercial banks as garnishee respondents. Garnishee proceedings allow a judgment creditor to recover a debt by attaching funds held by a third party, in this case, banks, which are then required to explain their involvement.

According to documents obtained by Nairametrics, Nimex's motion on notice, filed by Patrick Ikwueto, SAN, led to a temporary garnishee order (nisi) attaching funds held by identified banks.

The legal action stems from a previous final judgment delivered by the Federal High Court in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/L/CS/252/2007 against Conoil. This judgment relates to accumulated demurrage allegedly incurred by Conoil from petroleum products supplied by Nimex via shipment.

Patrick Ikwueto stated that the total judgment debt, plus 10% post-judgment interest from October 28, 2013, up to July 2, 2025, amounts to $8.4 million. He clarified that the judgment debt was originally in dollars, not naira.

The claimant also noted that during a previous garnishee proceeding, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), acting on a garnishee order against Conoil, deducted N4.3 billion to settle the judgment debt. The MD/CEO of Nimex, Azmat Mohammed, confirmed in May 2025 that the sum of N4,347,126,048 was paid to Nimex on July 2, 2025.