Appeal Court overturns N30m damages against UBA

The Court of Appeal has set aside a judgment of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court which had earlier ordered United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc to pay N30 million in damages to a customer, Mr Stephen Smart Asime.

In a ruling delivered by Justice Boloukuromo Moses Ugo, the appellate court held that the suit filed against UBA was wrongly instituted as a fundamental rights action.

It upheld UBA’s argument that the dispute was essentially civil in nature and could not be disguised as a rights enforcement matter to benefit from the faster procedure provided under that law.

Delivering judgment, the Court stated that Asime failed to prove any violation of his fundamental rights that would entitle him to damages or other reliefs. As a result, the N30 million award granted by the trial court was completely overturned.

Legal analysts have described the decision as precedent-setting, noting that it draws a clear boundary between civil disputes and genuine cases of rights violations.

The ruling, which affirmed the submissions of UBA’s counsel, Obinna Mbata, Esq., underscores that not every disagreement involving individuals and corporate organisations can be treated as a fundamental rights claim.

“The Court of Appeal has reinforced the principle that fundamental rights enforcement is a special procedure reserved strictly for cases of actual violations,” one Abuja-based lawyer said. “It sends a strong message that litigants cannot use the process to bypass regular civil proceedings.”

The judgment is expected to have far-reaching implications for the banking sector and other corporate entities often dragged into fundamental rights suits. It provides clarity on the proper legal channels for resolving civil disputes, while preserving the integrity of fundamental rights enforcement as a remedy for genuine cases of abuse.

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