The federal government is set to seize money in accounts without bank verification number, BVN, following the approval of the request of Abubakar Malami, attorney general of the Federation, for a temporary forfeiture of all funds held in bank accounts not linked to BVNs.

Also to be seized are funds held in bank accounts without sufficient know-your-customer credentials.

The order followed an originating motion of notice filed by the AGF on behalf of the Nigerian government on September 28.

Nnamdi Dimgba,  Federal High Court judge, who presided over the ex-parte motion, granted all the nine reliefs sought by Malami himself represented by a lawyer, Usman Dakas on October 17.

The court ordered all the 19 deposit money banks, DMBs, operating in the country to release to the federal government the names of the accounts not yet connected to BVN; account numbers; their outstanding balances; domiciling locations; and domiciliary accounts without BVN and where they are domiciled.

Nigeria deposit money banks that were listed as respondents in the ex-parte suit are: Access Bank, Citi Bank, Diamond Bank, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank and First City Monument Bank. Others are: Guarantee Trust Bank, Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Skye Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sterling Bank, Union Bank and United Bank for Africa.