UBA Faces Explosive Lawsuit Over Alleged Ghost Account, ₦5bn Transactions, EFCC Ordeal

United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), led by billionaire banker Tony Elumelu, is facing explosive allegations before the Federal High Court in Lagos over claims that it secretly opened and operated a “ghost” corporate account in a customer’s name, channelled more than ₦5 billion through it, secured a ₦2 billion loan, and exposed the company’s managing director to prolonged interrogation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The allegations are contained in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/775/2025, filed by EFFDEE Nigeria Limited and its Managing Director, Mr. Fouad Anthony Aquad, who accuse the bank of gross misconduct bordering on identity theft, data abuse and systemic failure of internal controls.

In the suit, the plaintiffs accuse UBA of breach of contract, negligence, breach of trust, unlawful data processing, and violation of their constitutional right to privacy. They are seeking declaratory reliefs, injunctions, and damages running into billions of naira.

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According to court documents, EFFDEE Nigeria Limited has maintained only one legitimate corporate account with UBA since August 4, 2020. The company insists it never applied for, authorised or consented to the opening of any other account in its name.

The controversy reportedly came to light in January 2025 when the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), during a tax investigation, contacted Mr. Aquad and requested statements for two UBA accounts allegedly belonging to EFFDEE Nigeria Limited. One of the accounts with account number 1023232539 was completely unknown to the company.

Alarmed, the plaintiffs say they conducted internal checks and discovered that a second UBA account had allegedly been opened and operated in the company’s name for several years without their knowledge or approval.

Statements allegedly obtained from UBA show that the disputed account carried an opening balance of ₦2 billion, said to be a loan, and recorded cumulative transactions exceeding ₦5.2 billion between 2020 and 2022, before being almost entirely drawn down. Further transactions allegedly running into hundreds of millions of naira were recorded between January 2023 and January 2025.

EFFDEE Nigeria Limited maintains that neither of its two directors signed any mandate, submitted identity documents, passed any board resolution, nor authorised any loan or transaction linked to the disputed account.

More troubling, the plaintiffs allege that the existence of the account had severe personal consequences. According to the suit, Mr. Aquad was invited, detained, fingerprinted and questioned by the EFCC in August and September 2024 over the transactions and the ₦2 billion facility allegedly tied to the account despite his repeated insistence that he had no knowledge of it.

The plaintiffs further allege that UBA unlawfully used confidential corporate and personal information obtained from their legitimate account to open and operate the second account. They claim their identities were cloned, signatures and corporate resolutions forged, and mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering checks blatantly ignored, allowing the account to operate undetected for years.

In a twist the plaintiffs describe as suspicious, they allege that while the purported illegal account functioned freely, UBA restricted their legitimate corporate account in September 2024 on grounds of “incomplete documentation,” a move they say underscores serious internal control failures within the bank.

The suit accuses UBA of breaching multiple banking, consumer protection and data protection laws, including the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, Central Bank of Nigeria regulations, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act. The plaintiffs also contend that the bank’s actions amount to an unlawful interference with their right to privacy under Section 37 of the Constitution.

They are asking the court to declare the opening and operation of the disputed account unlawful, award damages including ₦3 billion in aggravated damages, and grant perpetual injunctions restraining UBA from further operating the account or using their corporate and personal data.

The plaintiffs further allege that despite repeated letters and a formal pre-action notice issued through their lawyers, UBA failed to take decisive action or offer a satisfactory explanation.

UBA Plc has denied the allegations and urged the court to dismiss the suit.

At the last hearing, UBA’s counsel, Mr. B. Nwokedi, told the court that his client wished to defend the case but was currently out of the jurisdiction, and requested an adjournment, which the court granted.