The High Court of Lagos State has delivered a landmark ruling against Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) for issuing contradictory bank statements to a customer and failing to rectify the discrepancies, in breach of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023.
In Suit No: LD/18590MFHR/2024 Rebecca Bonje v. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, filed by the law firm Olumide Babalola LP, the applicant alleged that GTBank removed transaction entries without explanation and ignored her requests to correct the errors.
Bonje argued that the conflicting statements were “unfair, non-transparent, and in breach of Section 24(1)(e) of the NDPA 2023,” and that the bank’s refusal to rectify the discrepancies violated her right to personal data correction under Section 34(1)(c). She also claimed the removal of transaction entries constituted a personal data breach under Section 65 of the Act and sought general damages.
Delivering judgment on September 18, 2025, Justice O.A. Oresanya ruled that GTBank failed in its statutory obligations regarding the handling of Bonje’s personal financial data. The court held that the bank’s conduct breached both the NDPA and the constitutional right to privacy, awarding N5,000,000 in general damages to the applicant.
The court further granted all four declaratory reliefs sought by Bonje, affirming that the issuance of conflicting statements and the failure to correct them amounted to a violation of her data rights.
