By Dennis Udoma

The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri has faulted Ecobank Nigeria Limited for unlawfully restricting a customer’s account without a valid court order, awarding N5 million in damages.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Ntong Ntong, which was made available to the media on Monday, the appellate court upheld the lower court’s decision that the bank acted in gross violation of customer rights and breached its fiduciary duty.

The case stemmed from Ecobank’s appeal against an earlier ruling which awarded the customer N10 million in general damages. While agreeing with the trial court’s findings, Justice Ntong reduced the damages to N5 million, describing the initial award as excessive.

The court ruled that no bank, regardless of its internal policies or compliance procedures such as the Central Bank of Nigeria’s “Know Your Customer” (KYC) regulations, has the authority to freeze or restrict an account without a court order.

Ecobank had claimed it acted under regulatory obligations after a $65,000 cash deposit triggered compliance concerns. However, the court held that the bank failed to prove that such obligations allowed unilateral account restrictions.

Citing precedents such as FBN v. DKN Investments Ltd and GTB v. Joshua, the court warned that internal banking policies cannot override constitutional rights.

On the issue of a $10,000 lien allegedly owed to a foreign trading partner, Unique International Trading Ltd, Justice Ntong declared that Ecobank had no legal or contractual basis to hold the funds, stressing that “self-help has no place in the civilized world.”

The court further held that Ecobank breached its duty of care by dishonouring cheques and denying the customer access to funds, though it found no sufficient proof of lost business or goodwill.

This landmark judgment reinforces the legal limits of banking power, affirming that Nigerian banks must respect due process and cannot hide behind internal regulations to infringe on customers rights and privileges.