Secret Account Scandal: UBA Sued Over Alleged Ghost Account Linked to N2bn Loan

•Bank accused of running ‘illegal’ account without customer’s consent

United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) has been dragged before a Federal High Court, Lagos, in a lawsuit that reads like a banking thriller, with allegations that the lender secretly opened and operated a “ghost” corporate account in a customer’s name, channelled over N5 billion through it, secured a N2 billion loan, and left the company’s managing director facing EFCC interrogation for transactions he says he never authorized.

In Suit No: FHC/L/CS/775/2025, EFFDEE Nigeria Limited and its Managing Director, Mr. Fouad Anthony Aquad, accused the UBA Plc of breach of contract, negligence, breach of trust, identity theft, unlawful data processing, and violation of their constitutional right to privacy.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages running into billions of naira, as well as declaratory and injunctive reliefs.

According to the Statement of Claim, EFFDEE Nigeria Limited has maintained only one legitimate corporate account with UBA since August 4, 2020.

The company insisted it never applied for, authorised, or consented to the opening of any other account in its name.

The alleged wrongdoing came to light in January 2025 after the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) contacted the company’s Managing Director during a tax investigation and requested bank statements for two UBA accounts purportedly belonging to the company.

One of the accounts, account number: 1023232539; the plaintiffs stated, was completely unknown to them.

Alarmed by the request, the plaintiffs claimed they conducted checks and discovered that a second UBA account, described in court documents as an “illegal account,” had been opened and operated in the company’s name for several years without their knowledge.

Statements allegedly obtained from UBA showed that the disputed account recorded an opening balance of N2 billion, said to be a loan, and cumulative transactions exceeding N5.2 billion between 2020 and 2022, before being almost entirely drawn down.

Further transactions allegedly running into hundreds of millions of naira were recorded between January 2023 and January 2025.

The plaintiffs maintained that neither of the company’s two directors applied for the account, signed any mandate, submitted identity documents, passed any board resolution, or authorized any loan or transaction linked to the account.

They further alleged that the existence of the account exposed the Managing Director to law enforcement action.

According to the suit, Mr. Aquad was invited, detained, fingerprinted, and questioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in August and September 2024 over the transactions and a N2 billion facility allegedly linked to the disputed account, despite his insistence that he had no knowledge of it.

EFFDEE Nigeria Limited claimed that UBA unlawfully used confidential corporate and personal banking information obtained from its legitimate account to open and operate the second account.

The plaintiffs alleged that their identities were cloned, signatures and corporate resolutions forged, and mandatory Know Your Customer and anti-money laundering checks ignored, allowing the account to be operated clandestinely for years.

They also alleged that while the purported illegal account was allowed to function without interruption, UBA restricted the company’s legitimate account in September 2024 on the ground of “incomplete documentation,” a development they describe as suspicious and indicative of serious internal control failures.

In the suit, the plaintiffs accused UBA of breaching multiple banking, consumer protection, and data protection laws, including the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, Central Bank of Nigeria regulations, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act.

They further contend that the bank’s actions amount to an unlawful interference with their right to privacy guaranteed under Section 37 of the Constitution.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the opening and operation of the disputed account unlawful and to award damages running into billions of naira, including N3 billion in aggravated damages.

They are also seeking perpetual injunctions restraining the bank from further operating the account or using their corporate and personal data.

They further alleged that despite repeated letters and a pre-action notice issued through their lawyers, UBA failed to take decisive action or provide a satisfactory explanation.

However, UBA Plc has denied the allegations, and urge the court to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ suit.

At the last hearing of the matter, a lawyer, B. Nwokedi, who represented UBA Plc informed the court that his principal, whom he said wanted to defend the suit was out of the Jurisdiction, hence he asked the court for an adjournment.