Emerging report reaching Page 36 on Wednesday, indicates that a public affairs company, Gatefield Nigeria Ltd., has sued Access Bank Plc for N100 million ($262,000), for illegally blocking an account used to finance the recent EndSARS campaign against Police brutality and bad governance.
According to a international news platform, Bloomberg, the company filed a case against Access Bank, in a Federal High Court, in Abuja, on October 28, 2020, and accused the Bank of “unilaterally restricting” its account which was used to raise funds to support independent Nigerian Journalists that covered nationwide protests, last month.
“As more people contributed to our efforts, we noticed that we could no longer conduct transactions on the dedicated account we used for this particular activity”, the Lead Strategist for the Abuja-based Gatefield, Adewunmi Emoruwa, reportedly said.
The lawsuit will test whether blocking Gatefield’s account without a court order, was unlawful. There were other allegations by individuals and organisations on the social media that their accounts were restricted during the protests, for apparently similar reasons.
“A successful challenge at the court could make the difference for others who were likewise targeted”, Emoruwa added.
Gatefield was told by Access Bank, that it was directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to put restrictions on the account, implemented on October 15, Emoruwa stated.
Bloomberg said that a Spokesman for Access Bank, said the Bank does not comment on its customers to third parties, while a Spokesman for the CBN did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment.
More news later…
