The Federal High Court in Lagos has ruled in favour of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc in its debt recovery dispute with Stallion Group, upholding the bank’s receiver-manager appointment, mortgage security and the liability of guarantors.

Justice Daniel Osiagor, sitting at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, resolved the issues before the court in UBA’s favour and granted the reliefs sought by the bank, according to the judgment.

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The court confirmed Romeo Michael as receiver-manager, empowering him to take possession of the mortgaged property and seek protective orders to safeguard the bank’s recovery interests.

It also restrained the defendants from diverting payments due to them from government agencies, reinforcing UBA’s efforts to recover the outstanding debt.

The judgment reportedly found that the defendants did not dispute their indebtedness but challenged the amount owed.

It further held that reconciling the accounts would not extinguish the underlying debt.

The court dismissed objections by the 12th defendant, Barbedos Ventures Limited, ruling that the company had failed to establish proprietary rights over the mortgaged property.

Consequently, the court held that Barbedos Ventures’ consent was not required for the creation of the mortgage and rejected its objections.

The decision represents a development in UBA’s efforts to enforce its security arrangements and recover the money it says is owed by Stallion Group and related entities.

The dispute dates back to earlier proceedings in which Justice Akintayo Aluko granted UBA orders to take control of assets belonging to Stallion Nigeria Limited and its affiliates in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano.

The orders also provided for the freezing of the defendants’ funds across Nigerian banks.

Attempts by Stallion and other defendants to have the orders lifted were unsuccessful in December 2023, according to the report.

The defendants named in the dispute include Von Automobile Nigeria, Stallion Motors, The Honda Place and company director Sunil Vaswani.

The latest ruling strengthens UBA’s legal position in its recovery efforts and highlights the importance of enforceable mortgage security and properly appointed receivers in commercial debt disputes.