In a bid to flee liquidation following a current order of the Federal Excessive Court docket, Abuja, Dantata & Sawoe Building Firm Restricted has hurriedly paid in full the $1.4 million settlement settlement masking a $1,257,592.83 debt owed to Zutari Consulting Nigeria Ltd for subcontract work on the Dangote Fertilizer Plant mission in Lekki, Lagos.
The total fee was disclosed in its movement on discover filed earlier than the courtroom on December 4, 2025, and seen by BusinessTimes.
This improvement comes only a day after BusinessTimes reported that Justice Mohammed Umar granted Zutari Consulting’s request for the appointment of a liquidator, noting that Dantata & Sawoe had been given ample time to settle the debt however repeatedly offered excuses.
It additionally comes months after the courtroom authorised the publication of a winding-up petition in two nationwide every day newspapers.
Zutari Consulting is concerned in engineering design, consulting, and supervision of engineering works, whereas Dantata & Sawoe has been engaged basically development companies for over three a long time.
What Dantata & Sawoe Is Now Telling the Court docket
Citing grounds for the applying, Dantata & Sawoe’s lawyer, I. Otim, admitted that the courtroom had appointed liquidators on the premise that the corporate had been unable to pay its arbitral award debt.
- He added, nevertheless, that his shopper “has paid the debt arbitral award to the petitioner on this matter,” and argued that there’s now a necessity to remain execution of the courtroom’s orders or discharge the orders made on December 3, 2025.
- He additional acknowledged that his shopper has filed an attraction and that continued execution of the trial courtroom’s orders could foist a fait accompli ( irreversible completed truth) on the pending attraction.
The applicant additionally undertook to offer safety for prices.
Reliefs Sought by the Applicant Embrace:
- An order staying execution of the courtroom’s order made on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, pending the listening to and dedication of the attraction filed towards the orders on this petition.
- An order vacating or discharging the orders appointing liquidators for the applicant made on December 3, 2025.
- Moreover, the Head of Litigation and Insurance coverage for Dantata & Sawoe, John Dalam, disclosed via his affidavit that a number of credit score transfers had been made to Zutari Consulting to assist the corporate’s declare of full fee.
“The debit alerts exhibiting the funds of the arbitral award sum are connected right here as Exhibit D2 collection,” he added.
- He burdened that additional execution of the liquidation order would trigger irreparable hurt to the corporate and that it’s within the curiosity of justice for the courtroom to grant a keep of execution.
Why This Issues
Following this improvement, the courtroom that issued the liquidation order will possible repair a date to listen to authorized arguments from each Dantata & Sawoe and Zutari Consulting.
It’s now left for the trial courtroom to rule on the matter primarily based on the proof and arguments offered by each events.
If the applying is granted, the liquidation strikes towards Dantata and Sawoe could possible be placed on maintain pending the choice of the Appeal Court docket.
Liquidation Authorized Disputes
Final yr, BusinessTimes reported that the courtroom granted the events a 30-day extension for settlement and adjourned the matter a number of instances to listen to Zutari Consulting’s movement looking for the appointment of a provisional liquidator over the alleged debt.
Zutari Consulting’s lawyer, Chris Ekemezie, acknowledged that arbitration was performed in London, United Kingdom, and {that a} remaining arbitral award issued on April 7, 2021 held Dantata & Sawoe answerable for the debt.
He added that the petitioner was engaged by the respondent in 2015 to execute design elements of subcontract works on the Dangote Fertilizer Plant mission in Lekki.
They contended that after finishing the job, Dantata & Sawoe grew to become indebted to them within the sums of $1,257,592.83, ZAR 2,136,623.39, and £4,364.38.
He argued that the respondent’s failure to pay the excellent quantity led to a dispute that was referred to the Worldwide Chamber of Commerce for arbitration after each events did not resolve it. The tribunal dominated within the petitioner’s favour.
Nevertheless, in a preliminary objection filed on Might 9, 2023, Dantata & Sawoe’s authorized crew urged the courtroom to strike out the petition for lack of jurisdiction, informing the courtroom that an attraction had been filed amid ongoing settlement talks.
BusinessTimes reviews that the case has witnessed a number of adjournments.
Finally Wednesday’s proceedings, the petitioner knowledgeable the courtroom that the respondent had failed to completely settle the debt, noting that the shopper’s entitlements had been far above the 75% fee proposed by Dantata & Sawoe.
Dantata & Sawoe’s authorized crew maintained that they supplied to pay 75% of the debt, however the consulting agency rejected it.
After listening to each events, the decide held that the case had been adjourned thrice to permit the respondent to settle the debt, but they saved returning with excuses.
The courtroom famous the corporate’s unwillingness to pay and granted the petitioner’s request to nominate Joseph Abiolu, FCA, as liquidator to wind up the corporate in step with Sections 571(d), 572, and 573(1)(b) of the Corporations and Allied Issues Act (CAMA) 2020.
The case was adjourned to February 18, 2026, for the liquidator’s report.
What You Ought to Know
An attraction on the matter is pending on the Court docket of Appeal.
The Federal Excessive Court docket has jurisdiction over the transactions involving each events.
The courts will consider the authorized points in figuring out the remaining consequence of the case.
