The Supreme Court has brought final closure to a long-running legal battle between Fidelity Bank Plc and Sagecom Concepts Limited, ruling in favour of the bank and significantly limiting its financial exposure in the case.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Friday by a five-member panel led by Justice Lawal Garba, the apex court upheld Fidelity Bank’s appeal and clarified key aspects of the judgment debt arising from a legacy transaction dating back over 20 years.
At the core of the dispute was a credit facility granted in 2002 by the defunct FSB International Bank—later merged into Fidelity Bank—to G. Cappa Plc, which subsequently became entangled in prolonged litigation over collateral and debt obligations.
Fidelity Bank had approached the Supreme Court seeking clarification on how the judgment debt should be calculated, specifically requesting payment in naira rather than foreign currency, a simple annual interest rate instead of daily compounding, and the application of the exchange rate prevailing at the time of the High Court judgment.
In the ruling delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro, the court granted the bank’s key requests, ordering that the judgment sum be paid in naira, with interest fixed at 19.5 per cent per annum. The court also affirmed that the applicable exchange rate should be that which was in force at the time of the High Court’s decision, relying on its earlier judgment in Anibaba v. Dana Airlines.
However, the court declined to fix a final monetary figure for the judgment debt, leaving room for computation based on the clarified parameters.
The decision effectively dismantles earlier public speculation that Fidelity Bank could face liabilities running into ₦225 billion, instead affirming a substantially lower obligation consistent with the bank’s longstanding position.
Market analysts say the ruling reinforces confidence in the banking sector’s legal certainty and underscores the importance of judicial clarity in resolving legacy financial disputes. Fidelity Bank’s shares remained stable throughout the litigation, reflecting sustained investor confidence in its governance and risk management structures.
The judgment marks the definitive end of one of Nigeria’s most protracted banking-related court cases, setting an important precedent on judgment debt computation and interest application in commercial disputes.