BREAKING: Victory For Union Bank’s Board, Core Stakeholders As Court Quashes CBN’s Decisions 

By Akanni Toba

After over two years of litigation, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has nullified the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to sack the board and management of the Union Bank of Nigeria on January 2024.

In a verdict delivered on Wednesday morning, the court stated that the apex bank acted beyond its jurisdiction by firing the board and core shareholders of the Union Bank.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke declared as null and void ALL the decisions taken in the past two years the CBN-appointed board while directing the apex bank to restore the commercial bank’s management and board.

In a similar vein, the  court also prohibited the CBN and its appointed board and their agents from taking any step or continuing any steps towards recapitalisation or any other related act.

Recall that in  January 2024, the CBN made an inference in operations of the Union Bank by sacking its board and management replacing them immediately with a new set of people appointed by the apex bank.

The CBN brought on board Yetunde Oni as the managing Director/Chief Executive Officer and Mannir Ubali Ringim as the Executive Director.

This decision did not go down well with the Titan Trust Luxis International and Magna International, the core shareholders of Union Bank and they sought a legal recourse

The shareholders filed  an ex-parte motion at the federal high court in Lagos to seek a judicial review of CBN’s actions so far.

They faulted the decision of the CBN to replace the existing directors of Union Bank as well as the proposed “unlawful recapitalisation” of the bank by the interim board — all allegedly done without following due process.

They also sought a suspension of the CBN, Union Bank and the directors “from taking any further action in respect of the Proposed Unlawful Recapitalisation pending the determination of the judicial review applications”.

After months of legal back and forth, the  the court granted the order of the sacked shared holders on December 5, 2025.

The final judgement, however, was delivered on Wednesday, March 25, 2026.