Meet Ameena and Zara, the twin Indimi sisters who just won $43.51m

Fortune has smiled on the Indimi sisters again as a federal court has ordered their father’s oil company, Oriental Energy, to pay them $43.51m after a dispute over dividends.

The feud has been going on since November 2024, when the sisters’ case against Oriental first came to the Federal Court.

Ameena and Zara have a lot in common. They were born together, co-own private companies and have now jointly won a big case after suing their father’s oil company. Despite being of the same age, they hold separate statuses in the Indimi family business.

Ameena – favoured daughter

Ameena was until recently Senior Executive Vice President, at Oriental Energy Resources Limited, the company founded by her father. Prior to this she held several top positions in Oriental Energy: chief operating officer, executive director (for) assets, assistant manager and managing director.

She was originally headed for a career in medicine, having taken a degree in Pre-Medical Sciences at Lynn University, Florida, followed by an MBA. In 1999, she started working for the Nigeria-São Tomé and Príncipe Joint Development Zone (JDZ) before joining Oriental Energy.

Despite not being the eldest of his 20 children, Ameena, who goes by the nickname, Yakaka, has sometimes received preferential treatment.

This was revealed when – while serving as managing director – she was handed a gift of $3m by Indimi in 2016 while all her siblings on the board of Oriental Energy got $1m when their father acquired their shareholdings.

In the early 2000s, Ameena married Mohammed Dalhatu, the son of Bashir Dalhatu, a former power minister in General Sani Abacha’s cabinet in the 1990s. The marriage produced two children.

However, in 2012, Mohammed, who had a passion for riding power bikes, died in an accident while embarking on a 625km trip to Abuja after participating at a bikers’ convention in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. He was 34. Ameena has kept his surname ever since.

She enjoys mentoring, reading, yoga, baking, cooking and watching television, her company profile reads.

Zara – punished for divorcing

While Ameena was a favourite, Zara did not always receive equal treatment, court submissions suggest.

Zara, who goes by the nickname, Yagumsu within family circles, was also a member of the board of Oriental Energy.

Sometime in 2008, she married Alhaji Bakare, a quiet Adamawa businessman, whom she later divorced after having a son.

The divorce broke her father’s heart, Ameena told the court.

According to the affidavit, Zara was never served notice of board meetings as “punishment for divorcing her husband” because their father “claimed she had brought disgrace to the family by her actions”.

In 2012, she set up Tulip Bistro, a high end restaurant in highbrow Wuse 2, Abuja. She remains CEO while her twin is a shareholder. They also co-own Twenty-One Park, a grand plaza in Wuse 2 housing some of their other businesses.

In 2015, Zara eventually married a fruit trader from Mali, Mohammed Diabate.

The relationship was controversial from the start because Diabate’s first wife was said to be heavily pregnant when the wedding took place.

Even Indimi himself initially opposed the relationship but he eventually came around after the intervention of relatives. After the wedding, Zara started receiving invitations to board meetings at Oriental Energy, evidence that she had been forgiven by her father.

Diabate and Zara welcomed a son in 2016 and subsequently a set of twin daughters.

A controversial pair

Even before they jointly sued their father’s company, the two sisters have courted controversies on several occasions.

They often criticised the policies and actions of President Muhammadu Buhari through social media even though Buhari’s daughter is their sister-in-law.

When their brother, Ahmed, married Buhari’s daughter, Zahra, in 2016 at the Presidential Villa, there was a fracas between the twin sisters and the president’s security aides who had tried to prevent them from taking in their phones.

They subsequently took photos of the 30 Louis Vuitton customised boxes presented as gifts to Zahra Buhari and posted it on social media against the wishes of the Buhari family.

Local media reported that the incident and the subsequent heated exchange strained their relationship with the Buhari family. (The Africa Report)