Court Seals Keystone Bank In Abuja For Withholding Customer’s 240m
THECONSCIENCE NG reports that Officials of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, on Thursday, sealed the regional head office of Keystone Bank in Abuja over the bank’s failure to comply with a court judgment ordering it to pay over N240 million to a customer, Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Company Limited (AGROPRO Ltd).
The court enforcement team stormed the bank’s Central Business District premises, accompanied by a team of approximately 10 policemen, to execute the court order after years of litigation.
The team was led by the court bailiff, Barr. Shamsudeen Ubanoma and Maryam Mohammed, a senior court official in the enforcement unit.
The move follows a protracted legal battle between Keystone Bank and Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Company, which began in 2021 after the bank withheld over N202 million belonging to the agribusiness firm.
According to the firm’s counsel, Victor Abakpa, the funds, which are proceeds from a fixed deposit investment, were withheld by the bank without explanation or court backing.
Abakpa explained that the bank had claimed it was recovering funds under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Scheme, despite the company stating that it has no direct contractual ties to the CBN and does not owe the bank.
He said the FCT High Court in 2024 ruled in favour of the firm, ordering the bank to release the funds.
According to him, the bank appealed, but the Court of Appeal upheld the decision in a landmark ruling delivered on May 9, 2025.
Abakpa said the firm obtained a judgment at the High Court and again at the Court of Appeal, but noted that the bank has refused to honour it.
He said, “The dispute stemmed from a contract which came into place in 2020, particularly. The company was given a contract, and after the contract, the money that was remaining, which is AGROPRO LTD’s profit, was used for what we call a turnover – a fixed deposit. And that fixed deposit is what has led to the dispute we have today. It was fixed, particularly sometime in August or September 2020.
“And then, in September 2020, the client still rolled over that fixed deposit. And that was the end of it. The bank withheld that money without an order of court, without any reason. No reason whatsoever.
“So it became a prolongation. We went all the way through normal demands, and then we ended up at the Court of Law. The judgment was delivered in 2024, after four years at the High Court.
“And at God’s own speed also, we got another judgment, a concurrent judgment at the Court of Appeal. So the bank, without an order of court, withheld the sum of over N200 million. And that money accumulated in their custody up to this moment we are talking about, even after judgment was delivered.
“They refused to adhere to the judgment of the High Court, and that of the Court of Appeal. So we are here today for enforcement.”
