The Federal High Court in Abuja has lifted the Post-No-Debit restrictions imposed on the bank accounts of four defendants linked to an alleged N21 billion system glitch involving Flutterwave and Wema Bank in 2023, while strongly faulting the police for suppressing material facts.
Justice Emeka Nwite, in his ruling, agreed with the legal team of the four defendants, led by A.O. Ochogwu Esq. of Lexlaw Solicitors & Attorneys, that the police failed to disclose a previous court order that had already discharged similar restrictions on the same accounts when they applied for the new freezing order through an ex parte application.
Ruling on the motion filed by the defendants, Justice Nwite held that orders made by a court cannot stand where it is demonstrated that judicial discretion was exercised on a materially incomplete factual foundation.
“The Court therefore finds that the failure to disclose the order of 2nd April 2026, which had discharged and lifted the restrictions affecting the Applicants’ accounts, constituted a material non-disclosure in the circumstances of the ex parte application,” the judge ruled.
“The subsequent procurement of an order imposing substantially similar restrictions without first disclosing and addressing the earlier order cannot be permitted to stand.”
Accordingly, the court set aside the ex parte order made on June 2, 2026, and discharged all freezing orders, liens, and Post-No-Debit instructions imposed on the accounts of the 1st to 4th Defendants/Applicants.
Background
According to court documents obtained by Nairametrics, the case stems from a system glitch on Flutterwave’s POS platform between October 12 and 13, 2023.
Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) revealed that 9,633 erroneous transactions were conducted by 814 Flutterwave POS agents during the incident.
Flutterwave’s total exposure at the time was estimated at N21.2 billion. However, the company worked with banks to restrict affected accounts, successfully preserving N7.2 billion.
The Inspector General of Police had noted that his team arrested some suspected POS agents involved in the fraudulent activities and commenced investigations and litigation against the suspects.
Before Justice Nwite, the police, through a counter-affidavit seen by Nairametrics, maintained that the four respondents “are among those whose accounts receive volumes of money from the incident that happened on the Flutterwave platform.”
Defendants Accuse Police of Forum Shopping
However, the respondents’ lawyers argued that an earlier order unfreezing their accounts, issued by Justice Liman of a court of coordinate jurisdiction, remained valid and had not been appealed against.
They accused the police team of engaging in a grave abuse of judicial process and forum shopping, seeking a favourable ruling from a different judge after an adverse decision had already been given by another court of equal jurisdiction.
Justice Nwite upheld these arguments, noting that the police’s failure to disclose the earlier order constituted a material non-disclosure sufficient to vacate the ex parte order.