Sh*ck Ruling: Court Slams Okonjo-Iweala’s Sister-In-law With $97,982 Debt Order

The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered Mrs. Okonjo Udokanma, Chief Executive Officer of Fine & Country West Africa and sister-in-law to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to repay Providus Bank Plc the sum of $97,982.19.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

In its judgment, the court held that Udokanma had fully utilized an overdraft facility tied to her World Elite Card.

The case, filed by Providus Bank under suit number FHC/L/CS/901/2025, asked the court to determine whether the defendant had accepted and used the overdraft facility in line with her account-opening terms, and whether the bank was entitled to recover the outstanding sum with interest.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa stated that Mrs. Okonjo had voluntarily executed her account-opening documents, explicitly consenting to Clauses 12 and 23A–B, which allowed the bank to grant and recover overdrafts with interest. He noted that her repeated withdrawals beyond her balance confirmed her acceptance and usage of the facility.

The court upheld the bank’s claim of indebtedness but deemed the 26% interest rate excessive, reducing it to 10% per annum until the debt is fully cleared. The judge emphasized that while banks are entitled to charge interest, courts will intervene where rates become “unreasonably exorbitant.”

Justice Lewis-Allagoa also agreed with the bank’s counsel, Mitchel A. Aribisala, who argued that Mrs. Okonjo’s consistent use of the World Elite Card and failure to contest her account statements amounted to acknowledgment of the overdraft and its obligations.

Meanwhile, an application filed by Fine & Country International Realty (West Africa) Ltd seeking to lift a post-no-debit (PND) restriction on its account linked to the defendant’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) was dismissed.

Citing the UK Supreme Court’s ruling in JSC BTA Bank v. Ablyazov [2015] UKSC 64, the judge held that even where assets are not legally or beneficially owned by a debtor, they may still be frozen if the debtor exercises direct or indirect control over them.

Justice Lewis-Allagoa concluded that Mrs. Okonjo, as CEO of Fine & Country, exercised control over the company’s funds, thereby validating the freezing order as both lawful and constitutional.

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