Oil, Blood & Billions: Indimi Dynasty Torn Apart By $435M Fortune Feud

The glittering legacy of Nigeria’s oil-rich Indimi family is cracking under the weight of a $435 million inheritance battle, as personal grievances and corporate claims spill into courtrooms—and headlines.

Mohammed Indimi, the reclusive billionaire founder of Oriental Energy Resources, is now at the center of a fierce legal crossfire between his children. Once known for family unity and lavish weddings that captivated the elite, the Indimi clan is now being publicly splintered by a dispute over oil dividends and alleged coercion.

At the heart of the rift is a fiery affidavit filed by Mustafa Indimi, the eldest son and managing director of Oriental Energy. In it, he defends the company—and by extension, his father—against claims by his sisters, Ameena and Zara, that they were effectively shortchanged out of a staggering $420 million in dividends.

The sisters, in their initial lawsuit filed in 2022, pegged the contested amount at $435.5 million. In 2024, frustrated by delays caused by a judge’s transfer, they launched a second case with a slightly adjusted figure: $435 million even. Both suits argue that they were denied rightful earnings and pressured into ceding their shares for a mere $10 million—a move they now claim was deeply unjust.

Mustafa, however, insists the transfer was fully legal and voluntary. His affidavit outlines how over 98 percent of his sisters’ shares were acquired legally, with payments confirmed via direct correspondence from their father. The company also maintains that no $420 million dividend was ever declared, disputing the entire basis of their claims.

The courtroom drama is further intensified by unusual legal maneuvers. Justice Evelyn Maha, originally assigned the case, was transferred to another jurisdiction but received rare permission to keep overseeing the dispute, commuting to Abuja for hearings—leading to years-long delays. Meanwhile, Justice Emeka Nwite is now presiding over a parallel case, resulting in overlapping arguments and a confusing legal landscape.

Despite the personal turmoil, Mohammed Indimi has continued to expand his oil empire. In December 2024, he unveiled a cutting-edge Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel capable of storing one million barrels of oil. It’s slated for deployment to the Okwok Field by mid-2025, potentially adding tens of thousands of barrels per day to Nigeria’s oil output.

Founded in 1990, Oriental Energy remains one of Nigeria’s most important private oil firms, with deep assets in the Niger Delta and a major terminal in Ebok. While Forbes stopped tracking Indimi’s wealth after it fell from $670 million to $500 million in 2015, the company still holds billions in assets.

As this high-stakes family drama unfolds, what was once a model of legacy-building in Nigerian business now risks becoming a cautionary tale about mixing family, fortune, and oil.