Businessman takes legal action against fintech for freezing account, demands N30m in damages

A businessman, Mr. Suleiman Mohammed Dikwa, has filed a lawsuit against a fintech at the High Court of Justice, Jos, Plateau State, over the alleged unlawful freezing of his account and unauthorised withdrawal of funds.

He is seeking N30 million in damages, in addition to other reliefs.

In the suit, Dikwa, through his counsel, F.M. Pukuma of S.T. Panwal & Co, told the court that the firm froze his account and deducted N28,592.92 on April 19, 2024, allegedly based on a court order from a Sharia Court in Kaduna State. He contends that the deduction was carried out without his knowledge or consent, violating his rights as a customer.

According to Dikwa, the issue came to light when he noticed the unauthorised deduction and was unable to access his account. Fearing a possible security breach, he visited a Point of Sale (POS) terminal, only to discover that the account had been frozen.

He subsequently visited the fintech’s office in Dadin Kowa, Jos South Local Government Area, where he was informed that the freeze was executed pursuant to a court order from a Sharia Court in Kaduna.

However, after personally investigating the claim at the said Sharia Court, Dikwa said he discovered that no such order existed.

Despite notifying the firm of his findings and making repeated visits to their Jos office, the freeze on his account was not lifted, and the deducted amount remained unrefunded.

In a letter dated December 31, 2024, the fintech acknowledged that the transaction was linked to a mistaken transfer of N100,000 by one Mutiu Ajasa Adeniyi. The company claimed the funds were withdrawn to reverse the erroneous credit.

While the fintech confirmed deducting N100,000 from the claimant’s account, Dikwa insists that an additional N28,592.92 remains unaccounted for. According to him, an audit report issued by the company in January 2025 promised that the account would soon be unfrozen, but no action has been taken as of the date the suit was filed.

Dikwa argues that the fintech acted negligently and breached its fiduciary duty to him as a customer.

He maintained that a banker-customer relationship falls under the jurisdiction of the State High Court or the Federal Capital Territory High Court, and not a Sharia Court.

As such, he is asking the court to declare that the fintech’s actions were unlawful, to order the reversal of the N28,592.92 into his account, to mandate the unfreezing of the said account, to compel the company to pay N30 million as general and exemplary damages, to refund N1 million in legal fees incurred in prosecuting the matter, and to impose a 10 percent interest on the judgment sum until final liquidation.

Source: Legit.ng