Enforcement officers of the Federal High Court have started seizing and selling properties tied to Alhaji Abdulrahman Musa Bashar, Chairman of Rahamaniyya Group of Companies, to recover a debt of about $40m owed to Petrichor Energy FZCO.

The PUNCH reported that the exercise began on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, in Lagos and Abuja.

It followed a February 25 order of the Federal High Court in Lagos, which allowed Petrichor to register an English court judgment for enforcement in Nigeria.

The Nigerian court later issued writs of attachment and sale dated May 15. They direct the seizure and disposal of assets belonging to Bashar, while a separate writ covers assets belonging to both Bashar and Ultimate Oil & Gas FZCO.

Court enforcement officials served and displayed the documents at properties linked to the respondents in both cities as the exercise got underway.

The exercise was resisted at a property on Logone Close, Maitama, Abuja, where Bashar’s lawyer, Mohammed Sheriff, challenged the officials over the process.

Sheriff asked why the officials had not shown what he described as the appropriate Nigerian court documents authorising the seizure.

He argued that after the English judgment was registered, Bashar should have been served with a motion on notice and given 14 days to respond or apply to set the judgment aside.

“This is an order of court that you have gotten from a foreign country. I believe the judge doesn’t know that you are doing this. I am sure. Because after this registration of the judgment, there has to be Motion on Notice to serve them, that this is the position of the Nigerian court, now you come and respond,” he said.

The lawyer also claimed that the parties were negotiating a settlement and that Bashar had paid N1bn the previous week.

“We are aware, and they are settling. Even last week, they paid N1bn, just last week. So we cannot be expecting this, after all, you have not served us the necessary papers,” Sheriff said.

Tension reportedly rose at the property when associates of Bashar tried to move several vehicles out of the compound. They included Toyota Highlander SUVs, a Mercedes-Benz C-Class and a Range Rover Sport.

Police officers subsequently locked the gates, but the vehicles were later seen leaving the premises at high speed.

The dispute arose from petroleum product deals between Petrichor, formerly known as CE Energy DMCC, and Ultimate Oil & Gas between 2022 and 2023.

Petrichor supplied gasoil and Jet-A1 aviation fuel to Ultimate, which allegedly failed to pay in full and on time, leaving an outstanding debt of about $40m.

The disagreement led to arbitration and court proceedings in Dubai, London and the United Arab Emirates.

In February 2025, the English High Court entered judgment against Bashar personally under a guarantee, and against Ultimate Oil & Gas. The combined liability was later put at about $40.2m.

The parties reached a payment arrangement in April 2025, but the English court later found that Ultimate had defaulted on instalments despite extensions granted to the company.

By January 2026, the company was expected to have paid 45.7m dirhams but had paid only 8.7m dirhams, a shortfall of 37m dirhams.

The court also reviewed evidence on property sales and other asset transactions before issuing a worldwide freezing order against Bashar and Ultimate in March 2026.

The order covered assets worth about $40m in Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and France, and barred the defendants from disposing of or dealing with them.

One of the properties identified in the proceedings was a Nigerian asset valued at about $21.3m.

The proceedings also involved gasoil and Jet-A1 cargoes stored at Rahamaniyya depots in Lagos and Koko, which Petrichor sought to apply towards recovering the debt.

The latest enforcement action forms part of Petrichor Energy’s efforts to recover the money awarded in the underlying proceedings.

The case materials also indicated that separate enforcement proceedings were ongoing before the DIFC Courts under case reference CFI 118/2025.

They further stated that a Dubai criminal court sentenced Bashar to one year in prison on January 30, 2026, over financial misconduct involving dishonoured cheques totalling AED126.45m.

The court materials described Ultimate Oil and Gas FZCO as the UAE-registered offshore trading arm of the Rahamaniyya Group, which Bashar chairs.