Abdulrahman Musa Bashar, chairman of Rahamaniyya Group of Companies, is facing one of the toughest moments of his business career after enforcement proceedings commenced on Wednesday against properties linked to him in Lagos and Abuja over an approximately $40 million debt dispute with Petrichor Energy FZCO.
The action followed a February 25, 2026, order of the Federal High Court in Lagos granting Petrichor leave to register a judgement of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales for enforcement in Nigeria. Writs of attachment and sale dated May 15, 2026, were subsequently issued against assets linked to Bashar and, under a separate writ, against Bashar and Ultimate Oil & Gas FZCO, with court documents served and posted at properties in both cities.
The dispute stems from transactions between Petrichor, formerly CE Energy DMCC, and Ultimate Oil & Gas for the supply of gasoil and Jet A1 aviation fuel. What began with five spot contracts led to a term contract on April 25, 2023. Ultimate initially paid for products under the spot contracts but allegedly defaulted on interest and demurrage charges, prompting Petrichor to commence arbitration at the Dubai International Arbitration Centre in November 2023.
Two cargoes were later delivered under the term contract, but payment issues persisted. On January 14, 2024, the parties signed a payment agreement to restructure the obligations, with Ultimate issuing nine undated cheques signed by Bashar, who also gave a personal guarantee — a decision that has now placed his personal assets directly at risk. After partial compliance, Petrichor supplied another gasoil cargo, and Ultimate allegedly defaulted again. On April 4, 2024, seven cheques were presented but returned unpaid two days later due to irregular signatures. Petrichor filed a criminal complaint, and Bashar was convicted in absentia and sentenced to one year in prison, though the conviction was later revoked at the parties’ request.
In February 2025, summary judgements were entered; AED22.8 million against Ultimate and AED122.1 million against Bashar under his guarantee, plus interest and costs. A further payment agreement in April 2025 provided for structured instalments, but defaults continued. Court records put the outstanding against Bashar at AED120,089,582.69 and £94,025.56, about $32.7 million, with a further AED27,491,540.66 and £63,859.28, about $7.5 million, against Ultimate.
On March 30, 2026, the UK High Court granted a post-judgement worldwide freezing order against Bashar and Ultimate, covering assets in Nigeria, the UAE, the UK and France. The judge cited a March 15, 2026 conversation in which Bashar allegedly threatened to dispose of his assets if Petrichor rejected Ultimate’s proposed payment terms, as well as previous findings of contempt. The court also noted he had sold properties in the UAE and UK worth about $3.81 million and AED13.42 million, roughly $3.66 million.
Bashar has pushed back, insisting he never ran from his obligations and that selling assets to meet debts is not the same as dissipating them. He maintained the dispute is a commercial matter that went wrong, not a crime, and that he will face the outcome if a competent court orders payment. With the judgement debt at approximately $40 million including interest and costs, and proceedings also active before the DIFC courts under reference CFI 118/2025, the dispute has become his most intractable headache.
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