UBA In Trouble As Court Awards 6million Damage For Opening Unsolicited Account For Customers

 

Federal High Court in Lagos has awarded damages against the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, for the unlawful closure of the account of a customer without a valid court order.

The customer, Mr. Azuka Onwuka, also accused UBA Plc of opening a 'strange' account without his consent in a bid to cover the illegal closure of the initial account.

Justice Yelim Bogoro while delivering the judgment in a suit instituted by Onwuka, on July 10, 2023, in a suit numbered FHC/L/CS/317/2023, described UBA Plc's actions as unconstitutional, unlawful and an abuse of its position as a financial institution.

The judge ordered UBA Plc to pay a total sum of N6 million to Mr. Onwuka, as general damages and costs of instituting the suit. 

The bank was also ordered to write a letter of unreserved apology to Mr. Onwuka, for the humiliation, grief and annoyance the bank caused him while the case lasted. 

Onwuka in his suit filed by his lawyer, Collins Akinade, told the court that the suit is pursuant to Sections 36, 37 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 

He pleaded with the court for the following reliefs: "A declaration that the respondent’s unilateral opening of account number '1003284792' (the fictitious account) for and in his name and purportedly operating same for him notwithstanding the absence of any consent constitute violations of his data privacy which is an aspect of the fundamental right to privacy enshrined and protected under Section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

A declaration that the respondent’s abuse of its position as a financial institution patronized by the Applicant through the imposition upon him of a second current account by which account it unlawfully assumed the position of a tribunal and forcibly debited and extorted payment from him of his money constitutes gross violations of fundamental right to fair hearing and property inherent in the expropriated money and contrary to Sections 36 and 44(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Article 14 African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

"An order for the immediate payment of the sum of N100 million, as general/exemplary damages by the respondent to him.

"An order for the immediate payment of the sum of N5 million, by the respondent to him as cost of the action.

"An order for the tender of written unreserved apology by the Respondent to the Applicant for the humiliation, grief and annoyance it caused him in the circumstance." 

Onwuka's statement of facts as highlighted by the court was: "The applicant is a customer of the respondent which is a notable and one of the biggest commercial banks in Nigeria with whom he opened and had been operating a bank account since December 2003. The account number is 1003293912 and tied to the Applicant's mobile phone number +234 803 305 **** through which he had been receiving electronic alerts/records of transactions on the account. 

"The applicant upon discussions with a foreign company (Royal Bank of Canada) regarding an offer of engagement as a consultant anticipated the company’s due diligence checks on him, including especially a credit check. The applicant had not operated the account since 2006 which at the time had a credit balance of the applicant, but out of abundance of caution requested a confirmation from the respondent that his account was in credit debt free. 

To the applicant’s shock and dismay, the respondent informed him that he was owing the sum of N48, 882.05 (Forty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-two naira, five kobo) on an account in his name (account number 1003284792 but which was completely strange to him, having neither authorized the respondent or any third party to open any such account. It is self-evident that the respondent took undue advantage of its custody of the applicant’s personal details he supplied for opening his account to open and operate the second and authorized account it foisted upon the Applicant, together with the debit balance it had contrived on the account. 

"The applicant's vehement protests for closure of the said strange and unauthorized account and his credit status duly rectified were to no avail, the respondent revealing that it had sent his name to the Credit Bureau as a Debtor. And that it would only remove the name from the Bureau upon settlement of the debt it had contrived against the applicant through the strange unauthorized second account. 

"After several months of the stalemate with the respondent standing its ground, even after his complaint to the Central Bank of Nigeria, the applicant was forced to pay to the respondent in settlement of the contrived debit balance in the strange/unauthorized account. But by this time the applicant’s negotiations with his prospective Canadian principal had been called off. 

 "By their letter of September 30, 2022, the Applicant's solicitors wrote a letter demanding monetary compensation for him and an apology and the Respondent replied by its letter of October 4, 2022, to beg for time to conclude its investigation into the matter and then revert accordingly. The respondent has failed to revert to the applicant’s solicitors as it had promised but the applicant discovered from his mobile phone bank alert that it had proceeded to surreptitiously credit the said sum of N51, 818.32 (Fifty-one thousand eight hundred and eighteen naira, thirty-two kobo) to his account."