As reported by Forbes and the Telegraph, an oil baron that was born in Nigeria and resides in Britain, has been granted permission to call up Nigerian Law to appeal a recently made $21 million divorce settlement.
This ruling is thought to be the first ruling of its kind.
M.P., 50, is the founder of Petrodel Resources Ltd, a Nigerian energy trading firm. He was once named as one of Britain’s most influential black men.
Last October the presiding judge in the British High Court ordered M.P. to pay over $21 million in cash and assets to his former wife, Y.P., 49.
The couple was married for 15 years.
Stating in an appeal that the assets from his company are not solely his, M.P. called up a Nigerian customary law,
Itsekiri, that states assets from Nigerian businesses are held in trust for family members in Nigeria.
For M.P. that means his extended Nigerian family of children, siblings, nephews and nieces.
In the appeal, M.P. has claimed that he alone established Petrodel in 1992 with $13,000 given to him by his late father as “seed money”. Based on that fact, and holding to traditional law, he only acts in a custodial manner for the family’s wealth.
Attorney Martin Pointer represents M.P. Pointer told the court that under customary Nigerian law the first-born son of a family – M.P. is the first born in his – has a historic responsibility to use a family’s inheritance for the benefits of his siblings and his sibling’s children.
Further advancing M.P.’s appeal was his brother’s successful 2009 court case. At that time M.P.’s brother sought out the Nigerian High Court to obtain a declaration stating that resources from Petrodel Ltd is part of their father’s estate.
Their father died in 1992.
Also from the Nigerian High Court M.P. was able to obtain a court order that forbids sharing any information about Petrodel, and its assets, with third parties.
Due to the Nigerian court order, it is not easy to determine what Petrodel is actually worth.
Y.P. is arguing against the appeal. She claims that the company is “one hundred percent owned and controlled” by M.P.
During the original court case, held in London last year, M.P. said that her ex was worth “many tens, if not hundreds, of millions of pounds” and demanded $40 million in a payout for herself – with an additional $1 million for her upkeep and that of the four children the couple had together.
M.P. had offered Y.P. $35,000 a year after a lump payout of approximately $2.5 million.
The appeal date has yet to be set by the court.
Petrodel Resources Ltd was founded by M.P. in 2001. The company has far-reaching oil interests in Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda and is allegedly one of the largest independent energy investment companies in Sub Saharan Africa.
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