<p><strong> </strong>In a bid to safeguard his business interest against alleged excessive and bogus interest charges, a Dubai based Nigerian businessman,Adedoyin Adeyinka alongside his two companies UNICO MARINE DWC LLC, and ELIZABETH SHIPPING LTD have dragged Dubai United Arab Emirates Bank, National Bank of Fujairah PJSC, before a federal high court in Lagos South West Nigeria. </p>



<p> ;  ;
 ; In a statement of claim accompanied with statement on oath of Mr.
Adedoyin Adeyinka ; filed before the court on behalf of the plaintiffs by Barrister
Ikechukwu Ukadike, the plaintiffs stated that  ;a facility agreement dated 28th November 2016,
the National Bank ; of
Fujirah Pjsc of Dubai, as lender,
agreed to provide two facilities jointly for vessels namely MT. “LADY
ELIZABETH” and MT “CLOVER SKY” jointly in the ;  ;  ;
 ;sum ;  ;  ;  ;of ;  ; AED ;
 ;26,141,050,equivalent of USD 7,113,210.</p>



<p> ;
 ; ;Out of the above facility, a total of USD3. 850.000 was lent by the
bank for the refinancing of the MT. “LADY ELIZABETH” while the balance was for
a separate MT “CLOVER SKY”</p>



<p> ;  ;By a
valuation report of ; ;the MT. “LADY ELIZABETH” carried out by the
bank, the bank valued the MT. “LADY ELIZABETH” ;VESSEL) for a total of USD
5,500,000.,while the defendant bank refinanced the MT. “LADY ELIZABETH” in the
sum of approximately USD 3,850,000.</p>



<p>The said facility
was to be repaid over 9 years.</p>



<p> ;  ; By
virtue of the said facility, a ship mortgage was created for the MT.
“LADY ELIZABETH” in favour of the bank ; and subsequently registered in
Liberia as a first preferred Liberia ship mortgage.</p>



<p> ;  ;
 ;By another offer letter dated 29th March 2018,
the defendant bank offered to restructure the facility for another 10 years
under similar terms and conditions.
</p>



<p> ;  ;The
following documents are all pleaded in support of this application, Credit facilities Agreement; ; ;First preferred Liberian ship mortgage; Share
security ;Agreement; Memorandum of particulars of a first Liberia
Ship mortgage; Certificate of ownership and encumbrance of a
vessel registered under the Liberian flag; Letter of amendments
to banking facilities; Guarantee unlimited and  ;Latter of the 1st bank dated 29th March</p>



<p>The said MT “LADY
ELIZABETH” as well as the shares of
the two plaintiff Companies ;were
pledged as security for the mortgage.</p>



<p> ;  ;
After the said facility was granted, the plaintiffs made several payments to the
bank ; towards liquidating the ; ;said facility up to USD1,722,855.</p>



<p> ;  ;At
all times material to this suit, the said vessel is beneficially owned by the
UNICO MARINE DWC LLC Company and under the control and ;possession of the plaintiffs.</p>



<p> ;The
plaintiffs were fulfilling their obligation to the defendant bank until
sometimes in June 2017 when the vessel suffered major machinery failures and
while efforts were being made to repair her and put her back to trade, local
vendors and suppliers arrested her for outstanding bills rendering the vessel
unable to trade till date.</p>



<p>The ; claims
of the various vendors are pending both in Lagos and Port Harcourt Division of
the ; Court.</p>



<p> ;
Interestingly, the plaintiffs duly carried the defendant
bank along and promptly notified it of all the challenges the Vessel is facing
in Nigeria but the ; bank was reluctant to show any support and instead
proceeded to overcharge the Plaintiff with bogus interest contrary to good
faith and the letters and spirit of all ; ;the facility agreements and
understanding between the two parties thereby creating a bigger burden
for ; ;the plaintiffs and making it even more difficult and burdensome
to liquidate the residue of the loan facility.</p>



<p> ;  ; The
plaintiffs ; made frantic efforts to secure third party bare boat
charterers who can charter the vessel and settle the outstanding bills of local
vendors in Nigeria. The said efforts were dully brought to the attention of the
defendant bank.</p>



<p>However,
when the bareboat charter arrangement could not immediately materialize the
plaintiffs, particularly Mr Adeyinka Adedoyin ; took the bull by the horn
and raised the sum of USD 122,026.88 ;with which the claim of the ;
ASSURANCE ; of the Vessel was amicably settled out of court and the vessel
released from arrest in March 2019.</p>



<p> ;  ; The
plaintiffs have also agreed to settle the other vendor’s claims amicably so that the vessel can be taken for a dry dock routine maintenance and
resume trading.</p>



<p> ; The
defendant bank is well aware that the only source of servicing and liquidating
the facility and mortgage was freight and proceeds from the ships trading and
if she continued to lay idle she cannot earn money yet the bank  ;turned it down.</p>



<p> ;
 ;Instead, the defendant bank inflated and continued to
charge bogus interest, thereby
compounding the  ;problems.</p>



<p>Aside the sum of
USD 191, 001 .13, the plaintiffs have paid to the defendant bank, the bank
conjured up a further unsubstantiated interest of USD 425,000.00.</p>



<p> ;The
plaintiffs made an equity contribution of USD 1, 650,000 ; to the defendant
bank in order to secure the facility herein.</p>



<p> ;  ;
Apart from the equity contribution aforesaid, the plaintiffs have paid a total
of USD1, 722,855.as principal and USD 191,001, as interest to the defendant
bank in repayment of the facility and spent a total of USD3,900,000 ;
towards maintenance and general operating cost of running the vessel till date
which brings the plaintiffs investments in the vessel to a total of
USD7,463,856.</p>



<p> ;  ;By
the recent conduct of the
defendant bank, there is
imminent risk and danger that they want to take steps to remove the said vessel from the Jurisdiction of the Court and or sell her off abroad under the
guise of enforcing the said mortgage.</p>



<p>The grounds for
believing that the defendant bank is secretly taking steps that will be adverse
to the interest of the plaintiffs and make them lose all their investments in
the vessel are as follow:-</p>



<p>On the 23rd of
January 2019 the defendant bank appointed a surveyor to go on board to inspect
and value the vessel current market value and requested the permission of the
plaintiffs.</p>



<p> ;Despite
repeated requests by the plaintiffs for the defendant bank to provide details
of their Nigerian appointed solicitors so as to work at common purpose with the
plaintiffs Nigerian solicitors herein in the interest of the vessel, the
defendant bank has refused and consistently kept the plaintiffs in the dark
with their plans.</p>



<p> ;On the 16th ;of April 2019 the master CAPTAIN OKPAKA CROMWELL of the subject
vessel MT. “LADY ELIZABETH” sighted unknown person who approaches the vessel at
sea and were taking pictures of her and when they were accosted by the master
they claimed to be acting on the instruction of an undisclosed foreign buyer
who was in talks with the defendant bank to inspect the vessel preparatory to
being taken out of jurisdiction of the  ;court.</p>



<p>The bank has shown by conduct desire to remove the vessel from Nigeria or sell her off outright without
notice to the plaintiffs. ; ;</p>



<p> ; In breach
of the mortgage and facility agreement between the parties,  ;the  ;bank is poised to size the vessel and remove
the vessel from Nigeria by subterfuge for a facility that still has 9 years to
run.</p>



<p> ;  ; The
vessel herein is a moving asset that can be easily removed from the Nigeria
territorial waters within a very short time and without formal notice to the
plaintiffs, as ;the vessel is presently offshore.</p>



<p> ;  ;
There is real likelihood of the bank removing the vessel herein from within jurisdiction of the  ;court,
thus rendering any judgment which the plaintiff may obtain nugatory.</p>



<p>That all attempts
the plaintiffs have made to reconcile accounts have proved abortive.</p>



<p> ;  ;
 ;Consequently, the plaintiffs are urging the court to order the bank to refund overpaid interest already charge
and ;collected in the sum of ; USD 85,500.00.</p>



<p>A declaration
that the plaintiffs are entitled to equitable ;right of redemption of the
mortgaged security herein (the vessel MT “LADY ELIZABETH”)</p>



<p> ;A
declaration that the right of the mortgage to enforce the said mortgage has not
risen.</p>



<p>Meanwhile, based
on an application filed and argued before the court by Barrister Ikechukwu
Ukadike, urging the court to restrain the bank from tampering or removing the
Vessel from the jurisdiction of the court, the presiding judge,
Saliu Saidu in his ruling, ; has restrained the bank from tampering or removing the Vessel from Nigeria ;
pending the final determination of this suit. ;</p>

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