Plaintiffs say the bank opened a secret corporate account, moved billions, secured loans, and triggered an EFCC probe while UBA denies wrongdoing in court filing.
United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), one of Africa’s largest financial institutions, is facing a major legal challenge in Nigeria over allegations that it secretly opened and operated a corporate bank account without authorization, channeling more than ₦5 billion through it and exposing a company executive to a criminal investigation.
The lawsuit, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, was brought by EFFDEE Nigeria Limited and its Managing Director, Fouad Anthony Aquad. The plaintiffs allege that UBA unlawfully created and managed a second corporate account in the company’s name, obtained a ₦2 billion loan through it, and processed large financial transactions without consent or proper documentation.
According to court filings, EFFDEE says it has maintained only one authorized corporate account with UBA since August 2020. The existence of the disputed account allegedly came to light in January 2025 during a tax review by Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service, which requested records for two UBA accounts linked to the company. EFFDEE says it recognized only one of them.
Alarmed by the request, the company conducted internal checks and concluded that the second account was unknown to its directors and had been operated for years without approval. Statements attached to the suit allegedly show that the account was opened with a ₦2 billion credit described as a loan facility and later handled cumulative transactions exceeding ₦5.2 billion between 2020 and 2022, with further activity recorded through early 2025.
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EFFDEE and Aquad argue that the account led directly to scrutiny by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The managing director says he was invited, detained, fingerprinted, and questioned by the EFCC in 2024 over transactions tied to the disputed account, despite denying any knowledge of it.
The plaintiffs accuse UBA of identity theft, breach of trust, negligence, unlawful data processing, and violations of banking, data protection, and consumer laws. They allege that confidential corporate information was used to open the account, with forged documents and ignored know-your-customer requirements.
They are seeking court declarations that the account was illegal, damages running into billions of naira, including ₦3 billion in aggravated damages, and a permanent injunction preventing further use of their data.
UBA has denied the allegations and asked the court to dismiss the suit.
The case, initially adjourned in December 2025, due to Judges’ Conference, is now scheduled to resume on March 19, 2026, as scrutiny intensifies over banking controls and corporate data protection in Nigeria.