Court awards N50 million damages to bank — Features — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has awarded Unity Bank plc N50 million in damages in favour of Umar Abubakar Kasadiya, owner of Phoenix Security Service and Leasing Limited, whose accounts were unlawfully frozen for over 10 years.

The trial judge, AO Faji, held that the bank had violated the plaintiffs’ fundamental right under Article 44 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Judge Faji ordered the bank to provide Kasadiya with immediate and immediate access to the said account.

On July 16, 2014, Unity Bank froze the accounts of Phoenix Security Service and Leasing Limited and barred the owner (Kasadiya) from accessing the accounts without first obtaining a lawful court order.

Kasadiya, through his lawyer, Funmilola Salami, had sued the bank and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for freezing his company account.

In the original petition, filed on December 9, 2022, Salami asked the court for an order directing the bank to unfreeze his company’s bank accounts without further delay and lift all restrictions on them.

In justification for their action, the bank explained that the account was restricted due to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulation on Bank Verification Number (BVN). This regulation was breached when Kasadiya failed to link his account to the company’s account.

The bank further explained that the restriction was imposed by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and that there was no court order for that purpose.

The bank indicated that it only responded to the EFCC letter instructing it to freeze the account in 2014.

The judge ruled that ignorance of the law is no excuse and that the bank had acted negligently.

“I must therefore conclude that the restriction without a valid court order is unlawful and constitutes a violation of the fundamental rights of the applicants under Article 44 of the Constitution.

The Applicant must be granted immediate and immediate access to the relevant account.

“As for damages, there is no dispute that Unity Bank acted cavalierly in this matter and has held the account of Phoenix Security Services and Leasing Limited since 16 July 2014 – almost 10 years ago.

“This is completely unacceptable and should not be encouraged,” the judge ruled.