SERAP sues Nigeria’s central bank over $6.23m payment and ₦1.63trn in loan balances

The record

The new development

SERAP announced on 11 October 2026 that it had sued the Central Bank of Nigeria in Abuja. It identifies case FHC/ABJ/CS/2450/2026, filed on 9 October, and says no hearing date had been fixed. These procedural details come from the claimant. SERAP, 11 October 2026

The litigation follows a letter dated 26 September demanding answers within seven days. SERAP says its starting point is the Auditor-General’s 2023 report, Volume II, published on 7 August 2026. SERAP, 27 September 2026

What the court is being asked to do

The requested orders concern accounting, recipients, repayment and recovery records, internal investigative findings and the officials who authorised disbursements. The request also covers administrative action and records concerning currency notes and unusable vehicles. TVC News, 11 October 2026

This is a request for judicially compelled disclosure and accountability. Filing it does not establish that the underlying transactions were criminal, that every amount is missing, or that any named person is guilty. The practical question is whether the bank can produce a complete, dated trail from authorisation through payment to repayment or recovery.

Read the headline amounts separately

The naira categories reported are approximately ₦1.252 trillion in state intervention loans, ₦116.18 billion involving distressed or liquidated banks and ₦262.86 billion under Anchor Borrowers. The $6.23 million election-payment allegation is separate. Channels Television, 11 October 2026

Using the precise published components, the naira calculation is ₦1,252,095,444,724.82 + ₦116,179,000,000.00 + ₦262,859,473,249.81 = ₦1,631,133,917,974.63. This is arithmetic, not a calculation of proven theft. It also combines figures whose measurement dates need to be reconciled. The dollar amount should not be added without an explicitly dated exchange rate, and converting it would not make the underlying categories legally or economically equivalent. SERAP, 27 September 2026

A material correction in the agricultural figure

The audit identifies ₦386.168 billion outstanding under Anchor Borrowers at end-2023. ₦262.859 billion appears in CBN’s later reply as the remaining balance. Calling that lower figure simply money spent obscures its meaning and timing. Auditor-General, 2023 report, Volume II, pp. 756–762

Vero Record’s documentary review also identifies the bank’s explanation that many state loans were not yet due and recoveries continued. It reports a further discrepancy: the audit counts 77 boxes of notes awaiting examination, while SERAP says seven. Vero Record, documentary review, 11 October 2026

These distinctions strengthen the accountability question. A lender can have a valid receivable and still fail to provide adequate records. Conversely, an overdue loan does not by itself establish diversion.

Earlier accounts provide context

PUNCH’s May 2025 review of CBN accounts reports that the bank-level Anchor Borrowers balance fell from ₦408.801 billion in 2023 to ₦296.830 billion in 2024. Its “Other Loans” balance remained ₦116.187 billion. PUNCH, financial-statement analysis, 19 May 2025

The IMF’s 2025 assessment recognised progress on audit mechanisms while calling for fuller financial publication and stronger governance. That is background to disclosure concerns, not an IMF finding on this lawsuit. IMF, Nigeria Article IV, 2025, Informational Annex

A falling balance does not independently prove that every movement was a cash recovery: a reconciliation should identify repayments, write-offs, reclassifications, interest and other adjustments. Nor should amounts from different accounting bases be forced into agreement. A credible response would explain the bridges between the audit’s figures, annual accounts and current recovery records. That would allow progress to be measured without dismissing unresolved audit queries.

The election payment has a separate evidential history

On the election payment, CBN’s response printed in the audit said an investigation was continuing. The auditors judged that response unsatisfactory. The audit’s distinction between a finding and a risk remains important: possible loss is not a quantified judicial finding of loss. Auditor-General, 2023 report, Volume II, pp. 756–762

Premium Times reported in July 2026 that the $6.23 million transaction featured in a separate Emefiele prosecution. The witness maintained that Emefiele approved the withdrawal, while saying he did not benefit; Emefiele denied giving approval. Premium Times, court reporting, 3 July 2026

That history requires care with attribution. Alleged forged approvals, a witness’s testimony, an internal audit query and a court’s final findings are different forms of evidence. The new SERAP action should not be presented as a conviction in the older case.

What remains to be established

For this review, no independently accessible originating court papers or new CBN response specifically addressing the 9 October suit were located. The absence of a located response does not prove that none exists. The bank’s replies reproduced in audit reporting are earlier explanations, not a response to the new litigation.

CBN’s own legal-services brief describes both operational autonomy and the duty to furnish annual accounts to the National Assembly. Those provisions help explain why independence and financial accountability can coexist; the court must determine the particular relief, if any. CBN Legal Services, brief on the CBN Act 2007

The unresolved issue is whether CBN can reconcile these differently dated loan balances and document the authorisation, destination and recovery status of the election payment. Until that record is available, the defensible description is a disclosure dispute involving an alleged election-payment fraud and questioned loan balances, not a single established criminal loss.

Based on reporting from: SERAP, 11 October 2026; SERAP, 27 September 2026; TVC News, 11 October 2026; Channels Television, 11 October 2026; Auditor-General, 2023 report, Volume II, pp. 756–762; Vero Record, documentary review, 11 October 2026; PUNCH, financial-statement analysis, 19 May 2025; IMF, Nigeria Article IV, 2025, Informational Annex; Premium Times, court reporting, 3 July 2026; CBN Legal Services, brief on the CBN Act 2007.