The Federal High Court per Justice Yellim Bogoro has awarded N3 Million as damages against the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in a privacy rights case brought by popular columnist, Mr. Azuka Onwuka and another 3 million naira as cost of litigation.
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The case according to court processes according to CityLawyer, had been instituted by the Plaintiff, Mr. Chijioke against UBA for breach of privacy, wherein the Lead Counsel to the plaintiff, Mr. Chijioke Okoli SAN had prayed the court for “A DECLARATION that the Respondent’s unilateral opening of a current account number 1003293912 for and in the name of the Applicant 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.”
The Plaintiff also sought the following declarations and orders:
“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 immediate the payment of the sum of N100,000,000:00 (One Hundred Million Naira) as general/exemplary damages by the Respondent to the Applicant;
“AN ORDER for the immediate payment of the sum of N5,000,000:00 (Five Million Naira) by the Respondent to the Applicant 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 circumstances of this case.”
From the claims of the plaintiff, Onwuka had an account with the defendant Bank for over 20 years and had approached the bank to know the status of the account, noting that he was in discussions for a consultancy contract with a foreign bank and sought to ensure there were no negative reports whatsoever.
However, the defendant bank had informed him that the account had not only become dormant but in addition, the plaintiff had a debit of N50,000 on another account which had been opened in his name but apparently without his approval. The plaintiff was also informed by the defendant bank that his name had been submitted to the Credit Bureau of the CBN as a debtor.
According to reports, the defendant bank stated that it would not give any certificate of non-indebtedness to the Plaintiff unless he settled the debit entries on the second account. Consequently, Onwuka’s lawyers in September 2022 sent a letter of demand to the bank, to which it responded by its letter of October 2022 to plead for time to look into the matter. However, it did not provide the plaintiff with any other feedback. More so, the complaints of the Plaintiff to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also met a dead end.
In the end, despite the bank vigorously fighting the lawsuit through multiple applications filed by its lawyer, it was the holding of the court that the actions of the bank amounted to a breach of the provisions of the fundamental right to privacy as secured by section 37 of the 1999 Constitution. Also, the court held that that the opening of an account in the name of the Plaintiff and without his consent amounted to a breach of the banker-customer relationship and his right to privacy.
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