ABOYADE & CO. is a modern multi-disciplinary law firm grounded in traditions of excellence, diligence and integrity.
With extensive competencies in private and public sector legal work, the firm has represented clients, across diverse sectors, ensuring that their interests are fully protected under Nigerian laws. Our expertise cuts across Corporate/Commercial Law, Project Finance, Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Debt Recovery, Maritime Law, Public Interest Litigation, Election Petitions, Property and Real Estate Law, as well as Utilities and Infrastructural Development. It also includes designing and executing significant due diligence exercises as well as review of major joint venture and commercial agreements, including those involving private individuals, organisations as well as Federal and State governments and their agencies.
We have developed a reputation for excellent and quality legal services, representing and advising diverse clients in disputes arising out of complex commercial transactions, undertaking loan recovery activities and rendering quality advice and opinions to a large clientele base in the banking industry, multinationals, governments, regulatory bodies, state owned enterprises, as well as other large corporations. We also provide dispute management services to help entities keep track of, monitor and effectively manage their large litigation and arbitration caseloads. We assist our clients to develop a unified strategy in order to ensure a consistent and uniform response to threats irrespective of the jurisdiction in which such threats may originate.
Our expertise and experience in diverse transactions and a track record of successfully representing clients in court make us the preferred firm for corporate work of any kind.
The firm represents clients in disputes arising out of complex commercial transactions as well as non-commercial disputes of public interest. Our expertise/experience in diverse transactions combined with a track record of successfully representing clients in court makes us the preferred firm for disputes of this kind.
Our approach to dispute resolution is pragmatic and we present clients with options that aid in cost and time management.
The firm represented the Attorney General of the Federation in Mustapha Maisikeli & Anor v Pfizer Incorporated & Ors., a suit relating to Pfizer’s use of Trovan, an experimental drug in an unauthorized drug trial in Kano during a meningitis outbreak.
The firm was part of a consortium of lawyers that represented then Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Honourable Rotimi Amaechi in several prominent political cases. Aboyade & Co. was also part of a consortium of lawyers that represented the HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano, in his previous capacity as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in civil proceedings regarding his tenure as Governor of the Bank. In August 2014, the firm was part of a consortium of lawyers that successfully defended His Excellency, Tanko Al Makura, Governor of Nigeria’s Nasarawa State, in impeachment proceedings initiated by the Nasarawa State House of Assembly. The Governor is the 8th Governor in Nigeria’s history to have impeachment proceedings brought against him and the first official elected to any office to have survived impeachment in Nigeria’s history.
Corporate and Commercial Law
Aboyade & Co. acts as transaction advisors to, as well as negotiates, drafts and reviews complex commercial agreements on behalf of private entities, foreign investors, state and federal governments and their departments, agencies and parastatals. The firm provides advice on a broad spectrum of commercial transactions, including all areas of the transportation sector, banking and loan transactions, project finance, mortgage and asset financing, and telecommunications. The firm has also actively represented clients in respect of compliance work.
In addition, the firm has supported clients with regard to the setting up of companies, creation of Special Purpose Entities and joint ventures, business reorganisations and winding up of companies and has offered diverse legal services to support the operations of such companies including applying for, and obtaining permits, licenses and approvals from regulatory bodies required for the operational rights of companies in sector specific areas of the Nigerian economy; assisting with due diligence needs as it affects new commercial relationships, real estate needs regarding real estate acquisition, labour matters such as expatriate quota, intellectual property protection as well as taxation.
The firm also represents clients in disputes or issues arising out of complex commercial transactions, including Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Shippers Council, GMT Limited, MTN Communications Networks Limited, Tetrazzini Oil and Gas Limited, RenMoney Limited, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Ltd (NELMCO), The Federal Ministry of Transportation, The Federal Ministry of Justice, Unity Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution
Aboyade & Co. regularly represents local, foreign and multinational companies and MDAs in arbitration and alternative dispute resolution proceedings. The firm’s Managing Partner, a seasoned arbitrator, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK (Nigeria Branch) and has been nominated in a number of complex commercial ADR disputes.
Infrastructure
The development of utility infrastructure requires a robust knowledge of the laws regulating the relevant sector. Aboyade & Co. leverages on this knowledge to steer our clients through the regulatory minefield of utilities project development and ensure that the infrastructure is developed on time and in the most cost effective manner.
We provide legal consulting services to clients involved in the development of infrastructure relating to transportation – highways, railways, airports and seaports. We also advise on the acquisition of aircraft and issues relating to shipping and aviation. As project consultants, we anticipate our clients’ needs and potential legal hurdles in the project development process. Our team has experience advising clients involved in both green and brown field projects.
Energy
Our activity as consultants in the energy sector includes advising players in the electricity sector, as well as oil & gas sector. We provide advice to IPPs, governments at the federal and state level, lenders and other sector players in the electricity sector. We also provide advice ranging from the structuring of oil & gas projects to the negotiation of gas supply agreements and EPC contracts.
Election and Political Dispute Resolution
Aboyade & Co has extensive experience in election-related matters in different courts across the Federation; including the Federal High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Nigeria. The firm provides legal services to all classes of elective offices including Governorship elections and elections into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The firm was part of a consortium of lawyers that successfully represented the President, Muhammadu Buhari and Nigeria’s ruling party in various pre-election proceedings initiated across the country, which were aimed at disqualifying the President from contesting the 2015 presidential elections. The firm also successfully represented the President in various suits across Nigeria, in which numerous claimants sought to interfere with or frustrate the Independent National Electoral Commission’s conduct of the 2015 general elections.
The firm was also part of a team of lawyers that challenged the outcome of the 2015 Governorship, National and State Houses of Assembly elections held in Rivers State.
Aboyade & Co. represented the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in Labour Party & Ors v INEC, in which the firm successfully struck out controversial provisions of the Electoral Act 2010, which sought to circumscribe the constitutionally vested judicial powers of Nigerian courts and election petition tribunals with respect to election petitions.
The firm was involved in PDP v INEC & Ors, a suit that sought to terminate the tenure in office of 5 state governors who left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC). The firm was also involved in Sanusi v The President & Ors, and Sanusi v Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria & Anor. The former suit sought to determine whether the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the power to suspend the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria or otherwise interfere with the management of the bank, whilst the latter suit relates to the powers of investigation of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.