The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the Chief Executive Officer of Fine & Country West Africa, Mrs. Okonjo Udokanma, to pay Providus Bank Plc the sum of $97,982.19.
Naijaonpoint reports that the court affirmed that Udokanma, who is the sister-in-law to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, fully utilized an overdraft facility linked to her World Elite Card.
The suit, with case number FHC/L/CS/901/2025, was filed by Providus Bank, asked the court to determine whether the defendant accepted and utilized an overdraft facility under the account-opening terms and whether the bank was entitled to recover the outstanding balance with interest.
Delivering judgment, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa held that Mrs. Okonjo voluntarily executed her Account Opening Form, agreeing to Clauses 12 and 23A–B.
The judge said this authorised the bank to grant and recover overdrafts with interest, adding that her repeated withdrawals in excess of her account balance confirmed full acceptance and use of the facility.
The Court upheld the bank’s claim of indebtedness but described the 26% interest rate sought as excessive, reducing it to 10% per annum until the debt is fully liquidated.
Justice Lewis-Allagoa noted that while banks are entitled to charge interest on overdrafts, “courts will intervene where rates become unnecessarily exorbitant.”
The Judge agreed with the submissions of counsel to Providus Bank, Mitchel A. Aribisala, that the defendant’s consistent use of the World Elite Card and failure to dispute her account statements amounted to acknowledgment of the overdraft facility and its attendant obligations.
Meanwhile, a related application by Fine & Country International Realty (West Africa) Ltd, seeking to lift a post-no-debit (PND) restriction on its account linked to the defendant’s Bank Verification Number (BVN), was dismissed.
Relying on the UK Supreme Court’s decision in JSC BTA Bank v. Ablyazov [2015] UKSC 64, the Court held that even where assets are not legally or beneficially owned by a debtor, they may still be frozen if the debtor exercises direct or indirect control over them.
Justice Lewis-Allagoa ruled that Mrs. Okonjo, as CEO of Fine & Country, exercised control over the company’s funds; hence, the freezing order was valid and constitutional.
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