Court orders OPay to pay N5m damages for illegally freezing customer’s account

The Federal High Court, Lagos, has ordered Opay Digital Services Limited to pay N5 million in damages for unlawfully freezing a customer’s bank account without a valid court order, The Witness reports.

The applicant, Ikechukwu Chukwuma Precious, whose account number 8162404788 was domiciled with the respondent, had his account allegedly frozen from December 11, 2023. The suit, marked “IKECHUKWU CHUKWUMA PRECIOUS v. OPAY DIGITAL SERVICES LIMITED, Suit No: FHC/L/CS/1653/2024”, was instituted to challenge the restriction placed on his funds.

Delivering judgment, the court held that the action of the respondent in freezing and restricting access to the applicant’s account without lawful justification contravened Section 44 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which guarantees the right to ownership of movable property.

The court declared that the continued restriction on the account by OPay without a valid court order was illegal, unconstitutional, and null and void.

Consequently, the court granted an order mandating the respondent to immediately unfreeze the applicant’s account and allow him full access to his funds, including the ability to make withdrawals and deposits without hindrance.

The court also issued a restraining order preventing the respondent, its agents, privies, or any persons acting on its behalf from further freezing or restricting the account except in strict compliance with the law.

In addition, the court awarded the sum of N5 million as damages to the applicant for the violation of his fundamental rights.

In its reasoning, the court held that the applicant had sufficiently proved his case, describing the actions of the respondent as unjustifiable, unwarranted and unlawful.

“The actions of the Respondent in restricting and freezing the account of the Applicant is unjustifiable, unwarranted and unlawful,” the court stated.