The Supreme Court of Nigeria has struck out an appeal filed by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in its prolonged legal battle with Suru Worldwide Ventures Nigeria Ltd and its Managing Director, Mr. Edward Akinlade, over a disputed debt of ₦24.6 billion.
Delivering the ruling on Monday, July 7, 2025, the apex court, sitting in Abuja, held that the appeal marked SC/CV/865/2021 was incompetent and accordingly struck it out. Justice Uwani Musa Abba Aji delivered the lead judgment, which was unanimously supported by Justices Ibrahim M. Musa Saulawa, Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa, and Abubakar Sadiq Umar. “This notice of appeal, having been withdrawn for being incompetent, is hereby struck out,” Justice Abba Aji ruled, bringing AMCON’s challenge at the Supreme Court to an end.
The legal dispute began in 2011 when Suru Worldwide Ventures filed Suit No. FHC/L/CS/450/2011 at the Federal High Court against Oceanic Bank Plc (now Ecobank Plc) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The company alleged gross mismanagement of its accounts, including questionable debt restructuring practices and what it described as “creative accounting.” Suru claimed that its account, which was initially in credit, was manipulated and that the restructured debt of ₦8.3 billion in 2012 had ballooned inexplicably to over ₦24.6 billion by 2013, despite no additional facility being granted. The CBN was later removed as a party to the suit.
In 2016, AMCON joined the legal fray, claiming to have acquired the debt from Ecobank. Just two days after being joined in the case, AMCON filed a counterclaim seeking ₦24.2 billion from Suru and Mr. Akinlade. However, both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal dismissed AMCON’s counterclaim, describing it as an abuse of court process due to multiple suits filed on the same subject matter and failure to obtain declaratory reliefs in a prior case (FHC/L/CS/218/2014), which extinguished AMCON’s legal standing to sue on the issue.
Unwilling to accept the verdicts of the lower courts, AMCON proceeded to the Supreme Court in July 2021. However, during the hearing on July 7, 2025, its appeal was deemed incompetent and withdrawn.
AMCON was represented by Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, along with Kunle Gbolahan and Samuel Onah, while Suru Worldwide Ventures and Mr. Akinlade were represented by Layi Babatunde, SAN, and David Owoeye. Ecobank Plc had no legal representation at the hearing.
The ruling affirms the decisions of the lower courts and provides a significant legal victory for Suru Worldwide Ventures, which had consistently argued that AMCON’s repeated litigation constituted judicial harassment and abuse of court process.
Following the Supreme Court judgment, Suru Worldwide Ventures has issued a pre-action notice to AMCON, demanding over ₦23 billion in special damages for the alleged wrongful occupation and destruction of its property—specifically, the Best Western Hotel located at No. 12 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. The company claimed that on September 22, 2017, AMCON operatives and armed security agents forcefully took over the property in a predawn operation without prior notice, resulting in significant damage to the premises and trauma to guests and staff.
Suru argued that the takeover was based on a Federal High Court order that was later overturned by the Court of Appeal, and that AMCON’s counterclaims had been dismissed at both the trial and appellate levels. The company is now seeking a court order nullifying any transactions AMCON may have conducted involving the disputed hotel, an injunction to prevent further interference, and ₦23,087,390,000 in compensation for alleged financial losses, reputational damage, and asset destruction.
