E-Financial
Court Sets October Date in Suit against Zenith Bank over Alleged N6.4Bn Illegal Charges
Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has fixed October 6, for adoption of final written addresses in a suit filed by Mr. Olushola Anthony Adejuyigbe, a Nigerian independent oil marketer, against Zenith Bank Plc.
Adejuyigbe alongside his company, Tonique Oil Services Limited, sometimes in 2018, dragged Zenith Bank Plc before the court over alleged illegal and excessive charges to the tune of N6,441,369,617.73.
Adejuyigbe and his company in the suit marked FHC/L/CS/1584/2012, through Mr. Lanre Ogunlesi (SAN), his lawyer, in his amended statement of claim filed before the court narrated that in the course of its business activities his company, Tonique Oil Services Limited obtained several credit facilities from Zenith Bank PLC while he pledged three of his properties as securities for the loan facilities.
Adejugbe also stated that three different transactions leadings to this litigation occurred in his company’s current account whereby excess and illegal interest and charges were discovered.
And that upon discovery of the said charges, the company demanded for a reversal but the bank bluntly refused.
He also stated that a forensic accounting firm was engaged to scrutinize and analyse his company’s account and it was then discovered that between August 2006 and December 2013, excess interest and charges on the company by Zenith Bank Plc as accumulated to the tune of N1,842,471,801.99.
Adejugbe further stated that by a letter dated February 19, 2008, Zenith Bank granted his Company commercial paper facility of N2,568,644,276.09, to finance the purchase of 30,000MT of Petroleum products, but N2,501,270 was credited into the company’s account.
He however stated that instead of Zenith Bank financing the purchase of the 30,000 MT of Petroleum products for the company as per letter of offer, Zenith Bank diverted the entire sum of N2,501,270 for the purchase of its own shares during the bank’s Initial Public Offer (IPO), a conduct the plaintiffs described as unethical, unprofessional and reprehensive.
He also added that out of the sum of N104,363,212.03 assessed as dividends payable on the bank’s shares only N42,173,498.43 million was credited into the company’s account leaving outstanding balance of N62,169,713.60.
He added that the bank’s shares purportedly bought by his Company with the facilities granted by Zenith bank were managed by the bank so much that the bank eventually liquidated the shares after the value has nose dived and depreciated.
He also stated that another activity on his Company’s current account with Zenith Bank, was the sale and purchase of a property in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, that belong to one of the shareholders/customers of the bank who needed to clean up some of his obligations to the bank.
And that it was the bank who introduce his company to the shareholders 50,000 square meters of land out of which the company bought 20,000 square meters for the purpose of expanding its business earnings.
He averred that to facilitate the purchase of the land, Zenith Bank offered the company a term loan of N500,000 and it was part of understanding of the company and the bank that after the purchase of the land, the bank will finance the company’s Tank farms to be built thereon.
He further stated that after the purchase of the land, Zenith Bank took possession of the title documents of the land as collateral while reneged on the promise and understanding to finance his Company’s tank farm on the land and since 2008 the land had been under the management of the bank and the same had been lying fallow.
In this circumstance, the plaintiffs contended that Tonique Oil Company is not indebted to Zenith Bank and any alleged indebtedness could only have been arisen as a result of the unconciousable and illegal acts of the bank’s officials in debiting the company’s account with astronomical and spurious interest charged.
Consequently, the plaintiffs contended that such interest charges are illegal and they contravened the Central Bank of Nigeria Monetary Credit and Foreign Exchange/Trade guidelines.
The plaintiffs financial consultant computed other charges that were passed into the account of the company, base on relevant policy circulars, guide to bank charges of Central bank of Nigeria and discovered that the bank excessively overcharged the company on interest on overdraft, COT, and VAT on COT, Management Fees, upcountry transfer fees, interest on commercial paper, foreign exchange purchases and letter of credits.
Consequently, the plaintiffs are contending that they are not indebted to the bank rather the bank has overcharged them to several billions of Naira.
Rather the plaintiffs urged the court to declare that Zenith Bank being a bank within the supervisions and control of CBN cannot charge interest on any facilities granted to them beyond the official approved policy rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
They are also urged the court not only to restrain Zenith Bank from selling their property pledged as securities for the loan but to also compel it to pay his company the sum of ₦6,441,369,617.73 billion, being the total excess charges debited into the company’s account by the bank and interest on the same amount at the rate of 21% per annum from the date of judgement of the court until final liquidation.
However, Zenith Bank in its statement of defence with statement on oath sworn to by Mr Vincent Ohanugo, senior assistant manager internal control and Audit Department of Zenith Bank, and filed by Mr. Ajibola Lawal-Akapo, its lawyers, and others, denied almost all the plaintiffs’ claims and stated that the company was granted several loans which include: ₦2.5 billion regular commercial paper; $36 million import finance facility; $6, 648 million commercial paper/usance facility; $9million import finance facility via usance facility and $11million short term import facility of ₦500 million.
The bank also stated that the plaintiffs authorised Zenith Registrar Plc to take steps to purchase the shares of the bank on is their behalf, while also pledged 3.5million and 17,154,300 units of the shares respectively in favour of the bank and authorised the bank to sell them to recoup part of the credit facilities the bank granted them, therefore the allegation of unethical conduct, lack of competence and professionalism against it by the plaintiffs was made out of malice, confusions and frustration on the part of the plaintiffs.
The Bank also stated further that it did not enter any understanding with the plaintiffs to finance the construction of tank farm for the company.
The plaintiffs assertion that they are no longer indebted to the bank is a bare denial and therefore challenges the plaintiffs to provide evidence of payment of all the credit facilities availed to them by the bank.
Zenith Bank also stated that the plaintiffs suit did not disclose any cause of actions against it, as the plaintiffs are still indebted to it in the sum of N8, 464, 176, 356.52 billion, as at January 31, 2013.
The Bank therefore urged the court to dismiss the suit for been frivolous and it amounts to abuse of court process.
Meanwhile, Justice Faji upon conclusion of arguments from both parties counsel, on June 28, 2021, adjourned the matter till October 6, for adoption of final written addresses.
Banks in Nigeria closed 29.4 million accounts as of March 2025, according to the latest report by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).
The figure represents a sharp year-on-year increase of 30.43 per cent from the 22.54 million closed accounts recorded in March 2024.
It also reflects a steady rise in account closures over recent months, with 33.29 million closed accounts reported in February 2025 and 29.43 million in January.
The report also revealed a significant increase in dormant accounts, which surged to 33.39 million in March 2025, up from 19.79 million in the same period in 2024, a 71.3 per cent rise in inactive accounts over the past year.
Despite the spike in closures and dormant accounts, the number of active bank accounts rose from 219.64 million in March 2024 to 320.05 million in March 2025, representing an increase of over 100 million, or 45.7 per cent.
NIBSS defines a dormant account as one that has seen no deposit, withdrawal, transfer, or point-of-sale transaction for a period of six months.
The surge in account closures and dormancy follows the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive issued in December 2023, mandating commercial banks to restrict Tier-1 accounts not linked to a Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) by March 1, 2024.
In response to the directive, BVN enrolment increased from 61.6 million in April 2024 to 66.23 million by July 2025, as more Nigerians rushed to meet the CBN’s compliance deadline.
The Joint Committee of the House of Representatives on Public Accounts and Public Assets has threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over repeated failure to honour its invitations regarding the probe into non-compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and Finance Act 2020.
Olayemi Cardoso,, Gov, CBN
In a joint statement released on Friday and signed by Hon. Bamidele Salam and Hon. Ademorin Kuye, chairmen of the committees, the lawmakers decried the CBN governor’s continued disregard for legislative summons.
The committee is investigating the non-remittance of operating surplus as well as the mismanagement of unclaimed dividends and dormant account balances.
According to the committee, the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation reported a liability of N5.2 trillion in unremitted operating surplus due to the federal government from 2016 to 2022; a claim corroborated by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission in a separate submission to the National Assembly.
The committee cited provisions of the Finance Act 2020, which mandate that unclaimed dividends from publicly listed companies and dormant bank account balances older than six years be transferred into the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund. The fund is to be managed by a Governing Council led by the Minister of Finance and the Debt Management Office (DMO).
Contrary to this, the CBN maintains that the Financial Institutions Act 2020 empowers it to manage dormant balances.
However, the committee noted that the Attorney General of the Federation has issued a legal opinion affirming that the Finance Act 2020 remains the valid law guiding the management of such funds.
Following extensive submissions, the committee resolved that the CBN must remit N3.64 trillion, representing 70% of the undisputed N5.2 trillion operating surplus, within 14 days from receipt of its June 27, 2025, directive, pending final reconciliation of the disputed amount.
Additionally, the apex bank was directed to submit a detailed report on the total sum of unclaimed dividends and dormant account balances by June 30, 2025.
The CBN was also ordered to transfer these funds into the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund within 14 days and furnish the House with evidence of the transaction.
The lawmakers expressed frustration that, despite the clear directives and ample time, the CBN governor has failed to respond or appear before the joint committee to provide an explanation.
“In view of this continued defiance, the Committee will be compelled to exercise its constitutional powers to compel Mr. Olayemi Cardoso to appear before it,” the statement warned.
Moody’s has upgraded the outlook on Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to stable from negative.
In the latest rating commentary, made available to media on Thursday, Moody’s also affirmed the pan-African banking group’s B3/Not Prime long- and short-term issuer ratings; B3 senior unsecured debt rating; b2 notional Baseline Credit Assessment and b1 Adjusted BCA.
ETI’s subsidiaries operate across 38 countries, including 35 African countries, and total assets of $28.9bn as of March 2025, details from the rating note highlighted. Moody’s said the decision to change the outlook to stable on the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings reflects ETI’s resilient financial performance.
The rating upgrade also takes into consideration higher dividends being upstreamed to ETI, resulting in lower double leverage and reduced refinancing risk.
The rating adjustment also reflects an expectation that the recapitalisation process of Ecobank Nigeria Limited will be completed by the end of 2025, with limited impact on the group’s financial fundamentals.
“The stable outlook also captures our expectation that a series of capital-boosting initiatives and actions to cure Ecobank Nigeria’s total capital position will be completed before the end of 2025”, according to the ratings agency.
In May 2025, ETI received shareholder approval to raise $250 million in Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital and announced the launch of the transaction effective 9 July 2025, of which a portion is expected to be downstreamed to Ecobank Nigeria as AT1 capital during Q3 2025.
Ecobank Nigeria’s plan to raise $200m in AT1 capital was noted in the rating note. The ratings analysts said they consider
“We also note that Ecobank Nigeria’s recent successful offer to tender $150m of its February 2026 $300 million notes and consent to remove the capital adequacy ratio covenant from this bond’s terms alleviates risks of an event of default in Nigeria that would trigger cross default at the ETI level. Over the past year, ETI has shown resilience in its financial performance, which supports our change in outlook to stable. Liquidity risks are being moderated by the group’s gradually improving profitability during 2024 and Q1-2025.
“This has translated into a 22 per cent increase in dividends upstreamed to ETI during 2024, these being received from 22 dividend-paying subsidiaries compared to just 14 in 2021,” the rating commentary revealed.
In turn, albeit high, ETI’s double leverage ratio, which measures the liquidity risk taken on by the holding company, as a result of it borrowing in order to invest in the equity of its subsidiaries, has eased to 168 per cent as of December 2024 from 173 per cent in 2023.
Additionally, the stable outlook reflects reduced liquidity risk at the holding company level with the refinancing of short-term liabilities in 2024 with longer-term funding.
Moody’s said this is underpinned by demonstrated market access, notably through senior unsecured notes issuance of $400m in October 2024 and a tap increase of $125m in May 2025, maturing in October 2029.
ETI’s B3 long-term issuer ratings affirmation reflects the affirmation of the group’s b2 notional BCA; the affirmation of the group’s b1 adjusted BCA as captured by a one-notch uplift for affiliate support, reflecting Moody’s assessment of a moderate probability that the firm’s major institutional shareholders would extend support to the group. Moody’s said asset quality for the group has improved over recent years.
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