The Supreme Court has delivered a landmark judgment affirming the powers of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to dispose of mortgaged assets, ruling in favour of the corporation in a protracted legal battle over the sale of the Lagos Continental Hotel for N22 billion.
In a judgment delivered on February 20, 2026, the apex court set aside the Court of Appeal's decision and upheld the sale of the hotel to 11 Hospitality Plc, permanently laying to rest a dispute that began when the loan used to construct the hotel became non-performing.
The legal battle originated when the defunct Skye Bank Plc (now Polaris Bank) advanced a credit facility to Milan Industries Limited for the construction of the Lagos Continental Hotel on Victoria Island, Lagos.
When the loan became non-performing, AMCON acquired the Eligible Bank Asset (EBA) of Milan Industries Limited from Polaris Bank in September 2018.
Prior to AMCON's purchase of the loan, the bank had appointed Kunle Ogunba (SAN) as Receiver/Manager over Milan Industries to recover the non-performing loan.
Ogunba subsequently took over the Lagos Continental Hotel pursuant to the registered Deed of Legal Mortgage collateralising the hotel to the bank and his Deed of Appointment.
Upon acquisition of the EBA, AMCON validated Ogunba's appointment.
AMCON disposed of the Lagos Continental Hotel for N22 billion to 11 Hospitality Plc pursuant to the registered Deed of Legal Mortgage.
Following the disposal, Milan Industries Limited commenced suit FHC/L/CS/1643/2020 challenging the disposal of the collateral.
The Federal High Court dismissed the obligor's suit, but Milan Industries successfully appealed to the Court of Appeal.
However, the Supreme Court finally ruled in favour of AMCON, setting aside the Court of Appeal's judgment.
The apex court stated that the AMCON Act is a special law enacted by the National Assembly to tackle peculiar problems in the financial industry, and interpretation should be done in accordance with the special nature of the law.
The Supreme Court affirmed salient provisions of the Act and upheld the provisions of Section 60, which exempts AMCON from paying stamp duties.
It also validated the rights of AMCON as a mortgagee irrespective of the upstamping of the document.
The court held that, provided there was an outstanding debt, AMCON had a continuing security interest in the mortgaged assets.
With this development, the matter has been permanently laid to rest, reinforcing AMCON's statutory powers to dispose of collateral assets in recovering non-performing loans from eligible bank assets.
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