Court Orders Muhammadu Indimi’s Oriental Energy To Pay Twin Daughters $43.51 Million In Dividend Dispute
A Federal High Court has directed Oriental Energy, the oil firm founded by businessman Muhammadu Indimi, to pay $43.51 million to his twin daughters, Ameena and Zara Indimi, in a long-running dispute over company dividends. The judgment, reported by The Africa Report, favoured the twins after they challenged what they said was their exclusion from a dividend pool linked to Oriental Energy’s offshore oil earnings. The sisters claimed entitlement to a combined 10 percent stake in the company, which they argued should have entitled them to a share of roughly $435.1 million in declared dividends. They alleged their individual holdings had been reduced without consent, denying them the full payout they were owed. Oriental Energy is a private Nigerian oil exploration and production company with offshore operations in the Niger Delta and is considered one of the leading privately held players in Nigeria’s upstream sector. The dispute also highlighted broader family tensions, including disagreements over whether previous payments to relatives should be treated as gifts, buyouts, or settlements that nullified dividend claims. Ahmed Indimi, son of Muhammadu Indimi and husband to Zahra Buhari, daughter of former President Muhammadu Buhari, testified against his sisters during the trial. Details on how the court calculated the $43.51 million award and the timeline for payment have not been made public.