A customer of Zenith Bank Nigeria Plc, Mr. Oghenekaro Gabriel Awodeha, has accused the bank of making alleged fraudulent and illegal deductions from his account, failing to resolve his complaint, and subsequently deactivating his ATM card without notice, actions he said have forced him to consider legal redress and petition regulatory authorities.
Awodeha said the issue began on December 27, 2025, when he received multiple debit alerts from his Zenith Bank account.
“On the 27th of December, 2025, I got two separate alerts of ₦53.70 each, with the narration 4th quarter MasterCard maintenance,” he said.
“I was not really happy about the double deductions, but I decided to let it go because I thought it might be an error.”
However, he said his concern deepened later that same day after reviewing his transaction history on the bank’s mobile application.
“When I checked my transaction history, I discovered a third deduction of the same ₦53.70,” Awodeha said.
“This time, the narration read Visa card maintenance. At that moment, I was shocked. I have never used a Visa card at any time, and even if by any stretch of imagination I owned one, it is not possible to have two functional ATM cards for the same account.”
The account holder said the unexpected charge raised serious questions about the bank’s internal controls and transparency, prompting him to formally lodge a complaint with the Zenith Bank’s Ughelli branch on January 5, 2026.
“At the bank, a customer care representative attended to me,” he said.
“I explained that I was debited twice for MasterCard maintenance for the same quarter, which was suspicious on its own, but my real worry was the Visa card maintenance deduction because I have never owned or used a Visa card.”
Awodeha said the bank official acknowledged the issue during their interaction, promising that the complaint would be resolved.
After waiting seven days without any reversal, feedback, or apology from the bank, Awodeha said he decided to do a follow up.
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However, he received no response from the bank. Instead, he discovered that his ATM card had been deactivated without any prior notice.
He accused the bank of leveraging its financial strength to intimidate customers, and called on financial and consumer protection regulators to urgently investigate Zenith Bank’s actions, particularly the multiple deductions from his account.
He also warned that he is prepared to take the matter to court if the issue is not resolved.
As of the time of filing this report, Zenith Bank Plc had not issued an official response to the claims.
Efforts to obtain comments from the bank were unsuccessful.
