Court Rejects Bank’s Bid To Extend Order On TAK Logistics’ Accounts

A Federal High Court  sitting in FCT hearing a ₦24.9 billion credit facility dispute involving TAK Logistics Ltd and Keystone Bank Ltd, has declined the bank’s application to extend an ex parte Mareva injunction that previously froze several accounts linked to the parties.

The order, originally granted on July 16, 2025, by Justice A. Akobi, expired by its own terms seven days later and was not renewed by the vacation judge, Justice Chizoba N. Oji, who found no compelling justification in law to entertain the matter as presented by the Claimant/Applicant.

The development marks a pivotal turn in a matter that has engaged public discourse, particularly concerning TAK Agro Plc, its chairman, Mr. Thomas Akoh Etuh, and TAK Logistics Ltd, who are the defendants in the suit, while the bank is the claimant/applicant.

TAK Agro Plc maintains that it was not a party to the credit transaction at the heart of the dispute. It affirms that the facility in question, a ₦24.9 billion loan, was granted in January 2021 solely to TAK Logistics Ltd under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Real Sector Support Facility/Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF/DCRR) Scheme, with Keystone Bank acting as the financial intermediary.

It maintains further that TAK Agro Plc had no contractual obligation to Keystone Bank that had arisen in this matter.

Furthermore, it added that Mr. Thomas Etuh, who previously held a non-executive role on TAK Logistics’ board, had disengaged from that position well before the dispute arose.

It is the defendants’ position that neither TAK Agro Plc nor Mr. Etuh had any involvement in the administration or disbursement of the said facility. Thus, they’re querying why the bank chose to join both parties in a dispute with their customer for a loan that, in their view, had yet to reach maturity date.

Documents made available to our reporter suggested that since the facility’s disbursement, TAK Logistics has remained a responsible borrower. As of July 2025, the company had already repaid ₦9.78 billion, approximately 40% of the loan. The facility has a tenor of seven years, with final maturity not due until 2028.

The defendants argue that despite these, the bank approached the court on a unilateral basis, allegedly portraying the entire sum as immediately due and payable, an assertion that, in their view, misled the court and resulted in the initial ex parte order.

The defendants also claim that though Keystone Bank filed its originating processes on June 18, 2025, these were not served on TAK Logistics until July 18. According to them, TAK Agro Plc and Mr. Etuh were also not served until July 23, weeks after the ex parte injunction had taken effect.

On July 22, the return date fixed by the trial judge, the bank made a second ex parte application before a vacation judge, one day after the courts began their annual recess. This procedural manoeuvre could have prolonged the freezing orders without the knowledge or input of the affected parties.

However, TAK Logistics’ legal team comprising Michael Kaase Aondoakaa SAN with A.T. Kohol Esq, C.O. Nnaeto Esq, Mathew Onoja Esq, Atna Kuyembo Esq, and Abdulbasit Shuaib Esq, were present at the proceedings, and successfully objected to this attempt. The court agreed, declining to entertain the matter or to extend the expired injunction in the absence of credible evidence that the defendants posed a risk of asset dissipation.

The case is likely to come up again in September 2025 for the continuation of proceedings, once the court’s annual recess has ended.