By Habeeb Ibrahim
The enforcement action against businessman Abdulrahman Musa Bashar in Lagos and Abuja over an approximately $40 million judgment debt is the latest development in a legal dispute that has stretched across Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
But the current case is not Bashar’s first major confrontation with the courts.
Court records show that his latest dispute with Dubai-based Petrichor Energy began with petroleum-product transactions involving his company, Ultimate Oil & Gas FZCO, and later escalated into judgments in England, a worldwide freezing order and enforcement proceedings in Nigeria.
The development also brings renewed attention to a separate 2020 English court case involving Bashar and Sahara Energy Resources, in which he was committed to prison for contempt of court.
How the $40m dispute began
Between 2022 and 2023, Petrichor Energy, formerly known as CE Energy DMCC, supplied gasoil and Jet-A1 aviation fuel to Ultimate Oil & Gas, the Dubai-registered trading arm of the Rahamaniyya Group.
According to the English court proceedings, the transactions resulted in substantial unpaid sums.
In January 2024, Bashar entered into a payment arrangement connected to Ultimate’s obligations and provided a personal guarantee. The company also provided cheques as security.
When the repayment arrangement subsequently broke down, Petrichor pursued arbitration and court proceedings.
On February 14, 2025, the Commercial Court of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales entered summary judgments involving Bashar and Ultimate Oil & Gas. The judgments covered the company’s obligations and Bashar’s liability under his personal guarantee, alongside interest and costs.
The figures later placed before the English court included about AED120.09 million and £94,025.56 outstanding under the judgment against Bashar, while a separate judgment against Ultimate involved about AED27.49 million and £63,859.28. Together, the amounts were reported at roughly $40 million.
The cheques and Dubai proceedings
The dispute also moved into the UAE.
Court materials state that Petrichor presented seven cheques in April 2024 after Ultimate defaulted on its obligations. The cheques, which were connected to Bashar’s personal guarantee, were returned unpaid because of irregular signatures.
Petrichor subsequently made a criminal complaint in the UAE.
The English proceedings record that Bashar was convicted in absentia by a Dubai court and sentenced to one year in prison in connection with the dishonoured cheques. Later proceedings state that the conviction and sentence were revoked following a request by the parties.
Why the UK court froze assets worldwide
The dispute took another turn in March 2026.
On March 30, Justice Bryan of the English High Court granted a post-judgment worldwide freezing order against Bashar and Ultimate Oil & Gas. The order was sought by Petrichor to prevent assets from being dealt with in a manner that could frustrate enforcement of the judgments.
The proceedings considered assets and interests connected to Bashar in Nigeria, the UAE, the UK and France.
The court also considered evidence concerning the disposal of some UAE properties and the disclosure of assets.
Among the assets discussed was a Nigerian residential property valued at about $21.3 million. Nigerian assets, including petrol stations, were also referred to in the proceedings.
The judgment further referred to evidence concerning a March 2026 conversation in which Petrichor’s managing director said Bashar had indicated that he would dispose of assets if a proposed repayment arrangement was not accepted. The court treated the evidence as relevant to its assessment of the risk that assets could be dissipated.
How the dispute reached Nigeria
The English judgment did not automatically give Petrichor the power to seize assets in Nigeria.
On February 25, 2026, the Federal High Court in Lagos granted Petrichor permission to register the English judgment for enforcement in Nigeria.
The Nigerian court subsequently issued writs of attachment and sale dated May 15, 2026. One was directed at assets belonging to Bashar, while another concerned Bashar and Ultimate Oil & Gas FZCO.
That process began physically on September 23, 2026, when enforcement officials moved against properties linked to Bashar in Lagos and Abuja.
At a property in Maitama, Abuja, the court order was reportedly posted and the property sealed. Enforcement officials also visited another property in the area.
Reports from the operation said the enforcement team encountered resistance at Bashar’s Maitama residence, while vehicles were moved from the compound during the exercise.
The Nigerian writs empower the Sheriff to recover the judgment debt through attachment and sale of goods and chattels and the seizure of specified monetary and financial assets.
The older case: what happened with the 6,400 tonnes of gas?
The $40 million dispute has also brought back an earlier English court case involving Bashar.
In 2019, Sahara Energy Resources became involved in a dispute with Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas over gas oil held at a terminal in Lagos.
Court records show that 6,400.69 metric tonnes of gas oil remained at the terminal after the parties’ earlier settlement arrangements broke down. Sahara obtained an order requiring Rahamaniyya to release the product.
The dispute subsequently expanded to include Bashar.
In February 2020, the English High Court committed Bashar to 10 months in prison for contempt of court after finding that he had breached orders relating to the release of the product. He was also fined £500,000. The 2026 judgment notes that he later purged the contempt.
The significance of the old case to the current proceedings is that the 2026 English court expressly considered the earlier contempt when assessing the wider circumstances surrounding the application for the worldwide freezing order.
A dispute that has crossed three legal systems
The current proceedings therefore involve more than a Nigerian debt recovery exercise.
The original fuel transactions involved a Dubai-based trader and a UAE-registered company. The principal commercial judgments were obtained in England. Petrichor subsequently sought recognition and enforcement in Nigeria, where Bashar’s Nigerian-linked properties are now being targeted.
Separate proceedings have also been active before the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts concerning recognition and enforcement of the English judgments.
The September 2026 enforcement operation is consequently the latest stage of a dispute that began with petroleum-product deliveries and developed into litigation over personal guarantees, unpaid judgments, asset disclosure and the enforcement of court orders across jurisdictions.
For now, the Nigerian proceedings are focused on recovering the judgment debt through assets connected to Bashar and Ultimate Oil & Gas.
