The Supreme Court of Nigeria has struck out an appeal by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in its long-running legal battle with Suru Worldwide Ventures Nigeria Ltd and its Managing Director, Mr. Edward Akinlade, over a disputed debt claim of N24.6 billion.
The apex court, sitting in Abuja on Monday, July 7, 2025, ruled that the appeal marked SC/CV/865/2021 was incompetent and therefore struck it out.
The ruling was delivered by Justice Uwani Musa Abba Aji, with Justices Ibrahim M. Musa Saulawa, Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa, and Abubakar Sadiq Umar concurring.
“This notice of appeal, having been withdrawn for being incompetent, is hereby struck out,” Justice Abba Aji declared, effectively ending AMCON’s efforts at the apex court in this case.
The legal tussle traces back to a banker-customer dispute between Suru Worldwide Ventures and Oceanic Bank Plc (now Ecobank Plc), over what Suru alleged to be gross mismanagement of its account.
In 2011, Suru Worldwide Ventures initiated Suit No. FHC/L/CS/450/2011 at the Federal High Court against Ecobank and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), citing inconsistent and unexplainable debt restructuring and alleged “creative accounting.”
Suru contended that its account, which was in credit, was manipulated, and that the alleged debt initially restructured to N8.3 billion in 2012 inexplicably ballooned to over N24.6 billion by 2013, despite no new facility being granted.
The CBN was later struck out as a party in the suit.
AMCON entered the fray in 2016, claiming to have purchased the disputed debt from Ecobank and was joined as a co-defendant.
Just two days after being joined, AMCON filed a counterclaim seeking to recover the N24.2 billion from Suru and Mr. Akinlade.
However, both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled against AMCON.
The trial court found the counterclaim to be an abuse of court process, citing multiple suits by AMCON on the same subject matter and failure to obtain declaratory reliefs in an earlier case (FHC/L/CS/218/2014), effectively extinguishing AMCON’s right to sue on the matter.
Dissatisfied, AMCON had filed an appeal to the Supreme Court in July 2021.
But at Monday’s sitting, its notice of appeal was deemed incompetent and withdrawn, leading to the dismissal.
AMCON was represented by Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, alongside Kunle Gbolahan, Esq., and Samuel Onah, Esq. On the respondents’ side, Layi Babatunde, SAN, appeared with David Owoeye, Esq., for Suru Worldwide Ventures and Mr. Akinlade.
There was no legal representation for Ecobank Plc at the hearing.
The ruling not only affirms the decisions of the lower courts but also brings a significant legal reprieve for Suru Worldwide Ventures, which had argued that AMCON’s repeated litigation over the same debt amounted to harassment and abuse of judicial process.
This ruling effectively ends the legal challenge by AMCON in this matter at the Supreme Court level, unless any extraordinary relief is sought in the future.
Prior to the judgment, Suru Worldwide Ventures has issued a Pre-Action Notice to AMCON, demanding over ₦23 billion in special damages for what it described as the wrongful occupation and destruction of its property, specifically the Best Western Hotel at No. 12 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to the notice, the hotel was forcefully taken over on September 22, 2017, in a predawn operation allegedly carried out by AMCON operatives and armed security agents without prior notice, damaging the property and traumatizing guests and staff.
Suru Worldwide contends that the takeover was based on a Federal High Court order that was later set aside by the Court of Appeal, and that AMCON’s counterclaims against the company had been dismissed at both the trial and appellate levels.
The company is now demanding: “an order of the court nullifying any transactions AMCON may have entered into concerning the disputed property,
An injunction restraining further interference, and N23,087,390,000 in special damages for financial losses, brand damage, and destruction of assets.
