*Faults Police Application
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The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has lifted freezing orders placed on the bank accounts and properties of four defendants linked to an alleged ₦21.2 billion loss arising from a system glitch on the Flutterwave payment platform in 2023, after finding that the police failed to disclose a material earlier court order when obtaining the restrictions.
Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling delivered on Monday, set aside the ex parte order made on June 2, 2026, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1004/2026, together with all consequential directives arising from it.
The court consequently discharged all freezing orders, liens, Post-No-Debit instructions and other restrictions imposed on the accounts or properties of the first to fourth defendants/applicants pursuant to the June 2 order.
The ruling arose from a wider investigation and series of court proceedings connected with billions of naira allegedly withdrawn following a system glitch involving a Flutterwave account maintained with Wema Bank between October 12 and 13, 2023.
The four affected defendants, through their legal team led by A.O. Ochogwu of Lexlaw Solicitors & Attorneys, had filed a motion on notice asking the court to vacate the freezing order.
Their principal argument was that the police failed to disclose to Justice Nwite that another Federal High Court had previously lifted similar restrictions affecting the same applicants.
The defendants maintained that an earlier order made on April 2, 2026, by a court of coordinate jurisdiction had already discharged the restrictions on their accounts and remained valid because it had neither been set aside nor successfully challenged.
They consequently accused the police of material non-disclosure, abuse of court process and forum shopping by subsequently approaching another court for substantially similar freezing orders without placing the earlier ruling before it.
Justice Nwite agreed that the failure to disclose the April 2 order was material to the exercise of the court’s discretion when the police obtained the subsequent ex parte order.
The judge held that judicial orders obtained on the basis of materially incomplete facts should not be allowed to remain in force once the omission is brought to the court’s attention.
“The Court therefore finds that the failure to disclose the order of 2nd April 2026, which had discharged and lifted the restrictions affecting the Applicants’ accounts, constituted a material non-disclosure in the circumstances of the ex parte application,” Justice Nwite held.
He added: “The subsequent procurement of an order imposing substantially similar restrictions without first disclosing and addressing the earlier order cannot be permitted to stand.”
The court accordingly resolved the issue for determination in favour of the first to fourth defendants/applicants.
Justice Nwite declared that “the ex-parte Order made by the Court on 2nd June 2026 in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1004/2026, together with all consequential directives issued pursuant thereto, is hereby set aside and vacated.”
The judge further ordered that every freezing order, restriction, lien, Post-No-Debit instruction or other encumbrance imposed on the applicants’ accounts or properties pursuant to the June 2 order be discharged.
The underlying dispute dates back to October 2023 when a system glitch allegedly resulted in thousands of erroneous transactions through the Flutterwave Point of Sale platform.
According to data attributed to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, 9,633 erroneous transactions were carried out on October 12 and 13, 2023, by 814 Flutterwave POS agents during the incident.
Flutterwave’s total exposure was reportedly estimated at about ₦21.2 billion.
Following the incident, Flutterwave reportedly collaborated with banks to restrict accounts connected with the transactions and was able to preserve approximately ₦7.2 billion.
The Inspector-General of Police subsequently commenced investigations into the incident, with police operatives reportedly arresting some POS agents suspected of involvement in the allegedly fraudulent withdrawals.
In a counter-affidavit filed before Justice Nwite, the police maintained that the four respondents were among persons whose accounts received substantial volumes of funds arising from the incident on the Flutterwave platform.
The applicants, however, challenged the continued freezing of their accounts on the basis that the earlier order lifting restrictions remained valid.
Their lawyers insisted that the police ought to have disclosed and addressed that order before seeking another ex parte restriction against them.
The latest judgment did not determine whether the four defendants participated in any fraudulent transactions arising from the 2023 glitch. Rather, the court’s ruling was directed at the validity of the June 2 freezing order and the police’s failure to disclose the earlier April 2 order when seeking the ex parte relief.
The ₦21.2 billion Flutterwave incident is one of several cases in recent years involving alleged system glitches, unauthorised transactions and fraud across Nigeria’s banking and fintech ecosystem.
In another recent case, the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 17, 2026, ordered 12 commercial banks and six fintech platforms to place Post-No-Debit restrictions on about 69 accounts allegedly linked to ₦1.3 billion in unauthorised credit transactions.
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