Appeal Court Draws Line Under Bank Account Freezes, Zenith Bank, Police Face N85 Million Liability

By Johnson Emmanuel

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld an N85 million damages award against Zenith Bank and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over the unlawful freezing of a customer’s account, reinforcing judicial limits on the use of court orders to restrict access to bank funds.

DEVELOPMENT:

A three-member appellate panel led by Justice Adebukola Banjoko unanimously dismissed Zenith Bank’s appeal, holding that it lacked merit. The decision affirmed the July 16, 2025 judgement of the FCT High Court delivered by Justice S.U. Bature.

The dispute arose after Paulyn Abhulimen, acting for her law firm, Abhulimen & Co, discovered in 2024 that its Zenith Bank account had been frozen. Bank official, Obi Okafor, subsequently informed her that a ‘post no debit’ (PND) had been placed on the account on March 13, 2024, pursuant to an ex parte order obtained by the NPF from a Chief Magistrate Court in Mararaba Gurku, Nasarawa State.

The High Court found that the magistrate court lacked the territorial and substantive jurisdiction to issue the freezing order.

DATA:

The courts have now sustained N60 million in general damages and N25 million in costs, bringing the total liability to N85 million, jointly and severally against Zenith Bank and the NPF.

The appeal, marked CA/ABJ/CV/1335/2025, followed the original suit, FCT/HC/CV/2194/2024.

Justice Bature held that the magistrate court “lacked the territorial jurisdiction” to entertain the application and further stated that magistrate courts lacked jurisdiction to order the freezing of a person’s bank account.

SIGNIFICANCE:

The ruling places a significant compliance burden on banks when responding to law-enforcement requests. Justice Bature said Zenith Bank’s legal department should have recognised the jurisdictional defect.

“The legal department of the first defendant (Zenith Bank), being lawyers, should have been aware of this position of the law and taken the appropriate action in this situation, as they ought not to have obeyed the court order in the first place.”

The court also found the bank negligent for failing to notify its customer.

“The failure of the first defendant to inform the claimant of the state of affairs on her account amounts to negligence on the part of the first defendant and hence, a breach of duty of care and due diligence owed to the claimant.”

NEXT MOVE:

Zenith Bank must comply with the affirmed order lifting the PND and publishing an unreserved apology to Abhulimen & Co in two national newspapers and on its website. The judgement also raises questions about how banks verify the jurisdiction and validity of orders before restricting customer accounts.

OUR LENS:

The deeper issue is not simply the N85 million penalty. It is the court’s insistence that banking compliance cannot be reduced to blindly executing law-enforcement instructions. The ruling makes clear that banks have an independent duty to exercise legal due diligence when faced with account-freezing orders.

The court’s message is particularly consequential for the banking sector: an invalid judicial order does not automatically immunise a bank that acts on it, especially where the bank fails to recognise an obvious jurisdictional defect or notify its customer.

Johnson Emmanuel is a journalist, covering business, economic affairs and issues of significance to Nigeria’s corporate and public sectors.