In a surprising turn of events, billionaire businessman, Mohammed Indimi has made an attempt to douse the friction between him and his two daughters a
In a surprising turn of events, billionaire businessman, Mohammed Indimi has made an attempt to douse the friction between him and his two daughters as well as to end the lingering legal battle he has been enmeshed in with his offsprings over $453 million dividend claims from his company, Oriental Energy Resources, a private oil exploration and production firm he founded in 1990.
He has paid them off with the sum of $10 million.
What this means is that the children aren’t worth the $43.5 million they claim is their dividend value in the company.
This move has significant implications for the ongoing legal battle regarding the family’s stakes in the company.
Recall that last year, his daughters, Ameena and Zara dragged him to court for reducing their stake in the family business alleging that they were unjustly denied their rightful share of a $435.1 million dividend declared by Oriental Energy Resources.
The siblings claimed that they are entitled to the amount, representing their combined 10 percent stake in the company and accused their father of misleading them into signing away shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars, thus reducing their shareholdings.
Their legal team contended that their individual five percent stakes in the company were reduced to just 0.6 percent each, stripping them of significant equity and resulting dividends.
The sisters further accuse their father of using intimidation tactics, coercion, to suppress their claims.
The sisters therefore asked the court to compel their father to account for the missing funds. They argued that the dividends, which were declared and yet remain unpaid to them, represent a breach of trust and transparency.
The feud expectedly, took a toll not only on the family’s public image but also on the family relationships.
While the payoff may resolve the immediate legal issues, it also highlights the complexities of managing family businesses, especially in high-stakes industries like oil and gas.
Ironically, Indimi‘s net worth, which peaked at $670 million in 2014 drastically declined to $500 million in 2015. But with the recent inauguration of his floating production storage and Offloading vessel for Okwok Field by Vice-President Kashim Shettima and other governors in Dubai in December, he is well on his way to regaining his position as a top tier leader in the oil and gas industry.
He also remains a top business figure with significant holdings across sectors, including being the largest shareholder of Jaiz Bank.
The Indimi family feud marks a rise and unprecedented public conflict in some of Nigeria’s most affluent families and raises questions about the dynamics of wealth and power in prominent households.
