By Innocent Anaba
Some victims of Automated Teller Machine, ATM, fraud, have  objected to an application by the First Bank Plc, praying a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, to remove its name  from the N50 billion suit, against the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the 24 commercial banks and Interswitch Nigeria Limited.

First Bank, through its counsel,  want the court  to set aside its order of October 15, 2009, which certified the suit as a class action of all  the victims, who suffered unauthorised withdrawal through the use of ATMs.

Trial judge in the matter is Justice James Tsoho.

The  plaintiffs, which include  Miss Daba West, a civil servant with the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA; Miss Nwajiagah Omeruo, a consultant; Mr. Tochukwu Onyiuke, a lawyer and Mr. Sydney Aguwamba, a fashion designer, through their counsel, objected to the application, and  urged the court to  strike out same on the grounds that it is incompetent,  having been filed out of time and without leave of court.

The plaintiffs argued that First Bank had an opportunity  to file the application within seven days, after it got  notice of the action  but refused  to do it, further contending that  under the Rule of the court, the bank  had seven days to file its application, which it never did.

The plaintiffs had picked holes on the bank’s argument on the certification of the plaintiffs as sought in their reliefs,  saying that it was clear that the  bank in its affidavit in support was attacking the certification of the defendants.

They urged the court to  utilised the suit, which the Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, United Bank of Africa Plc, Bank PHB and Intercontinental Bank Plc were also defendants and representative of the 24 banks  to make a pronouncement on the jurisprudence  of the matter being  a novel matter  on certification and representative suit  in the country.

In the substantive suit, the plaintiffs,  who claimed  they have lost huge sums of money in unauthorised withdrawals from their accounts, said they are representing other Nigerians, who have suffered similar fate on several occasions.

According to the plaintiffs,  the banks had been negligent in their duties as commercial banks and service provider in safeguarding the plaintiff’s funds through installation of security software in total protection of the plaintiff’s fund and this is the duty ought to be observed at all time.