Nigerian Bank Drags House Of Reps To Court Over Probe On Customers’ Account

The Federal High Court in Lagos has scheduled July 18, 2025, to hear a case brought by Sterling Bank and its subsidiaries, contesting the authority of the House of Representatives to investigate the management of funds in the accounts of two clients – Dr. Innocent Usoro and Miden Systems Limited.

The plaintiffs, which include Sterling Bank, Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, and senior executives Yemi Odubiyi, Abubakar Suleiman, Lekan Olakunle, and Dele Faseemo, are seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the House and its Public Petitions Committee Chairman, Michael Etaba, from acting on a police report that alleges financial misconduct related to the customers’ accounts.

Naijaonpoint understands that Innocent Usoro, Miden Systems Limited, and the Inspector-General of Police are also named in the suit.

The case, filed by human rights attorney Femi Falana (SAN), argues that the National Assembly does not possess the constitutional authority to investigate the bank’s internal affairs with its clients or to revisit a consent judgment issued by the Federal High Court in 2021.

The plaintiffs reference sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution, requesting that the court affirm that the House cannot summon their executives or staff, nor take actions based on the police report’s findings, which they claim are being used to re-litigate matters already resolved by the court.

The defendants, represented by their attorney Rowland Uzoechi, assert that the lawsuit is a deliberate effort to hinder justice and evade examination.

They contend that the inquiries posed by the plaintiffs are merely theoretical and lack practical relevance, arguing that the court does not possess the authority to adjudicate the matter.

In a detailed counter-affidavit consisting of 40 paragraphs, Dr. Usoro, the third defendant, accused the plaintiffs of document forgery to imply a non-existent $30 million loan transaction.

He stated that the investigation report from the Inspector-General of Police, dated January 2025, uncovered dubious inflows exceeding $122 million into Miden Systems’ accounts, with a considerable amount remaining unaccounted for and withdrawn under suspicious circumstances.

Usoro claims that the court was misled into issuing the Mareva injunction.

The plaintiffs refuted these allegations, asserting that the accounts in question were properly managed in accordance with a commercial loan agreement associated with a 2010 contract with Shell, executed by Miden Systems Limited.

The resolution of this case, which involves matters of constitutional law, banking regulation, and public accountability, may have far-reaching consequences for the authority of legislative oversight and the integrity of financial institutions in Nigeria.