A legal battle has erupted at the Federal High Court in Lagos, pitting Providus Bank Plc against one of its major customers, Plural Oil Marketing Limited.
The oil marketing firm has formally challenged an ex parte order that effectively crippled its operations by freezing all its bank accounts across multiple commercial banks nationwide.
The embattled company, alongside its directors, Babatunde Olukunle Oyefolu and Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Oyefolu, filed a comprehensive Motion on Notice, seeking the immediate discharge of the sweeping freeze order.
The directive, granted on October 7, 2025, at the instance of Providus Bank, is being described by the applicants as unlawful, unconstitutional, oppressive, and a grave violation of their right to a fair hearing.
The matter, which came before Justice Akintayo Aluko, has been adjourned until December 22, 2025.
In their legal submissions, Plural Oil and its directors contended that the ex parte freeze order was issued prematurely, fundamentally breaching the constitutional guarantee of a fair hearing.
According to the court documents, the applicants argued that the Federal High Court lacked the requisite jurisdiction to issue the order because they had not been served with any originating court processes before their accounts were blocked.
The oil firm pointed to the fact that the same freeze order directed Providus Bank to serve the applicants through substituted means, a clear, internal contradiction which, they argue, confirms that no formal service had taken place at the critical juncture when the order was granted.
Plural Oil stated that the company and its directors only became aware of the massive freeze on October 9, 2025, two days after the ruling, when various commercial banks began forwarding compliance notices received from the Plaintiff’s solicitors.
The company described this sequence of events as a textbook violation of Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, which strictly guarantees the right to be heard before any adverse judicial action is taken against a party.
A core pillar of Plural Oil’s challenge rests on the accusation that Providus Bank failed to make the full and frank disclosure required of any applicant seeking an ex parte order.
In their supporting affidavit, the applicants contended that the Bank deliberately withheld several material facts that, if disclosed to the court, would have inevitably influenced or even prevented the decision to grant the sweeping freeze.
Among the alleged omissions, Plural Oil stated that it had already made a substantial repayment of ₦891,036,000 towards the disputed facility.
Furthermore, on the very same day Providus Bank approached the court to secure the freezing directive, the oil marketing company had formally written to the Bank, requesting a reconciliation and restructuring of the outstanding loan.
The applicants argued that the Bank was responsible for delays in reconciling the loan account, a process that had reportedly dragged on for over a year, due to its alleged failure to provide reconciliation schedules promptly.
By selectively presenting facts, Plural Oil accused the Bank of creating a false impression of urgency and wrongdoing designed to influence the court into granting an immediate and wide-ranging ex parte order that instantly crippled the company's legitimate operations.
The most potent argument by Plural Oil focused on what they termed judicial overreach and abuse of process. They argued that the freeze order extended far beyond what is legally permissible for the preservation of disputed funds, adding that the directive blocked not just accounts directly related to the transaction but all bank accounts linked to the Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) of the company’s directors, Babatunde and Oluwatobiloba Oyefolu, including accounts where the directors merely served as signatories for entirely separate, third-party entities.
Plural Oil insisted that such sweeping restrictions violated Section 44 of the Constitution, which prohibits the unjust deprivation of property.
The applicants submitted that the order effectively punished them before trial, despite the absence of any evidence proving that the frozen accounts contained proceeds of the disputed loan or were at risk of being dissipated.
Adding to the claim of abuse, Plural Oil criticised Providus Bank over an earlier petition filed with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), revolving around the same civil loan dispute.
The company detailed how the petition led to the seven-day detention of its Managing Director in what it described as dehumanising conditions.
The applicants claimed the MD’s incarceration seriously disrupted critical medical treatment for pre-existing cardiac and neurological conditions.
They argued that the Bank deployed law-enforcement intimidation to secure concessions outside legitimate civil negotiation procedures, constituting a gross misuse of state machinery.
Addressing the underlying allegations related to the facility, Plural Oil denied claims that it diverted Base Oil supplied under Letters of Credit financed by Providus Bank.
The company maintained that all products were sold in the ordinary course of business and that the proceeds were duly remitted to the Bank.
They stressed that Providus Bank actively participated in reconciliation and restructuring exercises between 2021 and 2023, confirming the transactions were legitimate and transparent.
The continued freezing of the company’s accounts, Plural Oil told the court, has inflicted devastating financial consequences, resulting in the inability to meet contractual obligations, pay workers, fund legitimate business operations, or service existing commitments.
Plural Oil urged Justice Aluko to lift the order ex debito justitiae (as a matter of justice), restore immediate access to all affected accounts, and declare the ex parte directive unconstitutional, lacking jurisdiction, and wrongly obtained.
The applicants are also seeking substantial costs against Providus Bank for the alleged misuse of ex parte procedures.
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