Firm sues bank N100m for freezing account
A public affairs company, Gatefield Nigeria Limited, has sued Access Bank Plc for N100m for ‘unilaterally’ freezing its account.
The firm said that the money that was frozen in its account was meant for mobilizing independent journalists during the #EndSARS protests.
The case was instituted before the Federal High Court in Abuja on October 28, 2020.
“As more people contributed to our efforts, we noticed that we could no longer conduct transactions on the dedicated account we used for this particular activity”, Adewunmi Emoruwa, the lead strategist for Abuja based Gatefield said.
“A successful challenge at the court could make the difference for others who were likewise targeted”, Emoruwa said.
According to Emoruwa, Gatefield was told by Access Bank that it was directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to put restrictions on the account, a directive that was implemented on October 15.
A spokesman for Access Bank said the lender doesn’t comment on it’s customers to third parties.
Meanwhile, a pharmacist, Bassey Israel is set to sue the Central Bank of Nigeria and Access Bank Plc for freezing his account.
His lawyer, Mr Tope Akinyode, who is the National President of the Revolutionary Lawyers Forum, said his client, who was in charge of medical services during the #EndSARS protest in Port Harcourt, had his account frozen on October 15, 2020.
He said, “We will sue the CBN and Access Bank for freezing my client’s account. The fundamental human rights suit will be instituted next week. The bank must explain why it froze the account without a court order”.
One of the #EndSARS facilitators, Modupe Odele, aka, Mochievous, was stopped from travelling to the Maldives by the Nigeria Immigration Service on Monday while her passport was siezed.