A High Court in Abuja has slammed Stanbic IBTC Bank with a N15 million damages bill for unlawfully holding on to the personal data of two former customers and bombarding them with promotional messages even after they shut down their account.
In a landmark judgment delivered on July 29, Justice Kayode Agunloye ruled that the bank violated the customers’ constitutional right to privacy and breached the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), 2023, by continuing to process their personal information after they had withdrawn consent.
The court ordered Stanbic IBTC to delete every piece of the claimants’ personal data that it is not legally required to keep and barred the bank from further using, retaining, sharing or processing their information for marketing or any purpose not backed by law or their consent.
The suit was filed in 2025 by David Ogundipe and Salami Toluope Ibrahim after they closed their corporate account with the bank over unresolved issues. Although the account was shut, they told the court that Stanbic IBTC kept sending them promotional emails and text messages despite repeated demands to stop.
The bank reportedly promised to halt the messages, but the unsolicited emails and SMS continued, forcing the former customers to drag the financial institution to court.
Justice Agunloye ruled that once the banking relationship ended and consent was withdrawn, the bank had no legal right to keep using their personal data for marketing. He also held that the practice amounted to an unfair trade practice under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act.
While the claimants demanded N250 million in damages, the court awarded them N15 million, saying it was adequate compensation for the invasion of their privacy, the bank’s refusal to erase their data and the distress caused by the persistent unsolicited messages.
The court also awarded N500,000 as the cost of the suit and ordered Stanbic IBTC to pay 10 per cent yearly interest on the monetary awards until they are fully settled.
However, the judge declined to order the total deletion of all the customers’ records, explaining that banks are legally required to retain certain documents under financial and anti-money laundering laws.
Reacting to the judgment, the claimants’ lawyer, O.E. Oluwadamisi, described the ruling as a major victory for data privacy in Nigeria, warning organisations that they cannot continue exploiting customers’ personal information once consent has been withdrawn.
One of the successful claimants, David Ogundipe, hailed the verdict as a win for millions of Nigerians, saying it proves that people remain in control of their personal data even after ending their relationship with a company.
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