In a bid to halt the unsolicited communications, the claimants, through their solicitors, formally demanded that the bank stop processing both their personal data and the company's corporate data for marketing and promotional purposes.
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting in Abuja, has delivered a landmark judgment affirming Nigerians' "right to be forgotten," ordering Stanbic IBTC Bank Limited to pay N15 million in general damages to two former customers for unlawfully retaining and processing their personal data after they had terminated their banking relationship with the financial institution.
The judgment, delivered on July 29, 2026, by Justice Kayode Agunloye, also directed the bank to erase all personal data relating to the claimants that it is not legally required to retain, while restraining it from any further processing, retention, transmission or use of their personal information for marketing or any purpose not authorised by law or by their consent.
The court held that Stanbic IBTC violated the claimants' rights under the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), 2023, their constitutional right to privacy guaranteed under Section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA), 2018**.
