Top Nigerian Bank Sued for Blocking Protest-Linked Accounts
- Company says lender unilaterally restricted its account
- A test of banks’ power to freeze accounts without court order
People protest against the excesses of the police’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, in Lagos on Oct. 20.
Photographer: Adetona Omokanye/Getty ImagesAccess Bank Plc, Nigeria’s biggest lender, is accused of illegally blocking an account used to promote media coverage of protests against police brutality that recently swept Africa’s most populous country.
Gatefield Nigeria Ltd., a public affairs company, filed a case against Access Bank in a federal court in Abuja, the capital, on Oct. 28, accusing the lender of “unilaterally restricting” its account and demanding damages of 100 million naira ($262,000), according to court documents. The account was used to raise funds to support independent Nigerian journalists that covered nationwide demonstrations that lasted almost three weeks, according to the firm.