UBA’s Alleged ₦5bn Ghost Account Scandal: Matters Arising

BY GBOGBOWA GBOWA

United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), the flagship institution of Tony Elumelu’s banking empire, has once again found itself in the eye of a storm. For years, Nigeria’s leading commercial banks have been dogged by investigations, sanctions, and whispers of misconduct. Yet, they continue to parade staggering profits, dazzling dividends, and a steady stream of international awards that polish their corporate shine.

But beneath the glitter lies a troubling pattern: cold, calculated deals that betray the very customers whose trust fuels their growth. The latest bombshell, a ₦5 billion “ghost account” allegedly opened and operated without consent has dragged UBA before the Federal High Court in Lagos, exposing a tale of identity theft, forged mandates, and regulatory failures that reads like a financial crime thriller.

The allegations believed to have been built around secret account creation comes across in conception as one of the bank’s past untidy series, incubated behind its glowing corporate ambience, ostensibly by some of its finest hands.

The alarm raiser, EFFDEE Nigeria Limited, revealed that the bank acting on its own, created new accounts in its name without its consent.  EFFDEE Nigeria Limited insists it never authorized the opening of additional accounts beyond its legitimate corporate account. Yet, two mysterious accounts surfaced during a Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) tax probe, to which billions were moved under the shadow of ingenious, invisible in-house craft.

According to court papers, transactions exceeding ₦5.2 billion between 2020 and 2022, including a ₦2 billion loan facility, which was allegedly secured without board approval or signatures.

The lid was blown open when the account owner was arrested by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who had in the cause of discreet investigations discovered the questionable accounts and their transactions.

The company’s Managing Director, Fouad Anthony Aquad, was detained and interrogated over transactions he claims to know nothing about, highlighting the devastating personal toll of corporate misconduct. In the course of further investigations, forged documents and failed KYC gradually unveiled the dark hands behind the deal.

The allegations included cloned identities and forged resolutions, which ignored the Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols, apparently setting off red flags that pointed to systemic lapses in internal controls.

Thus this case is not just about one company’s ordeal but one that raises urgent questions about management risks and control systems such as data protection.

This brings us to the question of how safe are customers information when banks can allegedly weaponize same to open unauthorized accounts in their names. This also raises the issue of regulatory oversight. If a bank sanctioned repeatedly by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for sundry violations can still operate unchecked, it raises clear alarms about enforcement.

Last but not the least; these ugly developments also speak about questionable and weak corporate trust. That awards and glossy branding cannot mask the erosion of trust when customers face identity theft and financial exposure.

But here is the bigger picture, UBA’s denial of wrongdoing, which industry observers say was not unexpected. Yet, the silence and evasions alleged by the plaintiffs echo a familiar script in Nigeria’s banking sector: deny, delay, and deflect until the storm passes.

Meanwhile, customers remain exposed to risks they neither signed up for nor imagined possible. If anything at all, this scandal underscores a chilling reality that  behind closed doors, some banks may be running parallel systems that thrive on secrecy, manipulation, and exploitation.

In a smooth criminal system such as ours, perhaps the time has come for big bank customers to begin to look beyond advertised sweet sensation of funds security by commercial banks and to begin to scrutinize their accounts as often as possible. Regular review of statements directly from regulators like FIRS or CBN, and not just from their banks may go a long way in checkmating some of the financial crimes.

Perhaps, it is also time for high net worth investors to begin to demand transparency by insisting on written confirmations for every loan, facility, or account change.

Learn to treat your corporate and personal banking information as vulnerable assets because in the wrong hands, they can be weaponized. In the same vein, customers should push for stronger consumer protection enforcement under the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA).

It must be emphasized that this UBA’s alleged ghost account scandal is more than just a courtroom drama, it is a wakeup call. Nigerian banks may continue to flaunt profits and awards, but customers must remember that a polished image does not guarantee integrity.

Until transparency and accountability become non-negotiable, every customer remains a potential victim of the cold, calculating deals that lurk behind the boardroom doors of Nigeria’s banking giants.