The Supreme Court has lowered Fidelity Bank’s liability in Sagecom loan dispute after a Justice Lawal Garba-led five-member panel ruled in favour of the bank in its appeal against Sagecom Concepts Limited.
The five-member panel of the apex court, in its latest ruling on Friday, lowered Fidelity Bank’s liability in Sagecom’s loan dispute, thereby overriding its earlier decision that found Fidelity Bank severely liable on April 11, 2025, in a years-long tort dispute with Sagecom.
The previous unanimous decision of the apex court in April stemmed from a pair of loans obtained by engineering giant G. Cappa Plc from FSB International Bank in the early 2000s. The loans, recorded as $3 million and N100 million at the time, were executed before Fidelity Bank bought FSB International and its liabilities as part of the banking sector consolidation in 2005.
The cumulative facility was issued at prohibitive interest per annum, and Fidelity began seizing G. Cappa’s assets in Ikoyi and Ibadan that had been used to secure the deal when the company allegedly defaulted in 2005. G. Cappa sued at the time, and a federal judge in Lagos ordered Fidelity to desist from its aggressive depletion of G. Cappa’s assets, court documents said.
Following the April ruling, Fidelity Bank in May this year admitted it was in a deep multibillion-naira debt that could force it into bankruptcy after the Supreme Court ordered the commercial bank to pay more than N225 billion to Sagecom Concept Ltd after a years-long business dispute.
In a motion consisting of five prayers, dated October 8, 2025, Fidelity Bank sought clarification from the Supreme Court, requesting a consequential order that the judgment debt be paid in naira. The bank also asked that the interest rate be set at 19.5% per annum rather than compounded daily at 19.5%. It also urged that the exchange rate used for conversion be the rate on the date of the high court judgment, in line with the Supreme Court’s decision in Anibaba v. Dana Airlines.
Fidelity Bank further requested that the judgment debt be fixed at ₦30,197,286,603.13, and that interest on this amount be payable at 19.5% per annum until full settlement.
However, Friday’s ruling delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro granted Fidelity Bank’s first three prayers, but declined the fourth and fifth.
Consequent upon the verdict, the judgment sum will be paid in naira at an annual interest rate of 19.5%, rather than the daily compounded rate previously awarded by the high court and earlier upheld by the apex court.
The Supreme Court also affirmed that the applicable exchange rate should be that of the date of the high court judgment, consistent with its preceding decision in Anibaba v. Dana Airlines.
