By Radarr Africa Business Desk
LAGOS, October 29 (Radarr Africa) – United Bank for Africa (UBA) has asked a court to jail nine individuals linked to Western Metal Products Company (WEMPCO), alleging that they forced a court-appointed receiver out of the group’s steel plant in Ogun State, as the bank pursues the recovery of N61.45 billion it says the company owes, Nairametrics reported.
None of the allegations has been tested in court, and WEMPCO’s response was not immediately available, the report said.
The committal notice was published in The Nation on Tuesday under an order allowing service by newspaper, according to Nairametrics. It names nine individuals and 17 companies as defendants. The notice asks that the individuals remain in prison until they comply with a court order.
The order at the centre of the dispute was made on 2 April 2026 by Justice Akintayo Aluko. It froze funds of up to N61.45 billion across 27 banks and fintechs, and appointed Romeo Ese Michael as receiver-manager over assets not already pledged to the bank. The order cites the sum as N61,445,695,993.76, Nairametrics reported. Its receiver’s powers include two Wartsila power generators “wherever they may be found”.
UBA’s affidavit alleges that after bailiffs handed over the Magboro and Ibafo plant, the respondents brought in hired men, broke the receiver’s locks and threatened his staff with “serious injury”. The bank also alleges that they kept running the business and diverting its funds. It accuses them of wilful, deliberate and orchestrated disobedience of the April order.
The filing sets out a timeline of contacts between the two sides. On 22 June, WEMPCO’s lawyers asked for an urgent meeting and proposed an interim standstill, a joint account reconciliation and a repayment framework. UBA’s lawyer replied the next day, questioning how the company could seek dialogue while, in the bank’s words, “deploying physical violence on ground and resorting to self-help”, but agreed to meet.
Both sides met at UBA’s Marina head office on 26 June and agreed a joint inspection of the Magboro site for 2 July. The bank says WEMPCO and its lawyers did not attend on that date and have since stopped responding, while the plant has stayed under the respondents’ control.
WEMPCO is represented by SimmonsCooper Partners, led by Dapo Akinosun, SAN. UBA’s lawyer is Temilolu Adamolekun, SAN, according to the report.
The defendants include Lagos Oriental Hotel Limited, United Rolling Mills Limited, WEMPCO Steel Mill Company and Prime Nigeria Tiles Company. One of the individuals named is the managing director of Nigerian Enamelware Company Plc, which is listed on the Nigerian Exchange and is itself a defendant, while another sits on its board, Nairametrics reported. The order also directs Moniepoint, OPay and Kuda to disclose and hold any balances belonging to the defendants.
Nairametrics said the action followed an earlier case in which UBA won a judgment against Stallion Group using the same receiver. It cited MoneyCentral as having first reported that judgment on 16 October.
WEMPCO was founded by K.F. Tung, who first came to Nigeria in 1967, the report said. It described the case as a test of whether court-appointed receivers in Nigeria can take effective control of a borrower’s assets, and said a committal order against the controlling shareholders would send a signal to other chronic debtors.
Nairametrics noted that the claims come from UBA’s court filings. The loan is said to date from a 2019 credit agreement under which the bank’s security interests were pledged.
