The boycott of courts in Bayelsa on Monday stalled hearing in a case filed by a customer of United Bak for Africa (UBA) over debt recovery deductions for a loan he never took.

The Yenagoa branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had on June 22 directed lawyers in Bayelsa ro boycott courts in protest for the abduction of Justice E.G. Umokoro, a judge at the Bayelsa High Court on June 21.

Umokoro, who was a former Chairman of Yenagoa branch of NBA during his days at the bar was abducted by armed gunmen at Ekeki area of Yenagoa from his car while waiting for his daughter to buy bread from an eatery.

The directive compelled all the courts to suspend sittings from June 23, leaving litigants and lawyers coming from outside Bayelsa for court sittings stranded.

It was learnt from officials of the Federal High Court (FHC) Yenagoa that the NBA lifted the boycott, paving way for courts to resume sittings.

However, Justice Ayo Emmanuel of the FHC Yenagoa could not sit as he was said to have travelled to attend burial of a FHC judge outside Bayelsa.

Mr Chinedu Nwoke, a customer of UBA, had dragged the bank to the Federal High Court, Yenagoa over unauthorised debit on his account purportedly for a loan the customer did not take.

Nwoke is seeking redress over a purported COVID-19 loan valued at N700,000.00 from NISRAL Micro Finance Bank which he knows nothing about using his Bank Verification Number (BVN).

Nwoke in his prayers before the court, lamented that the fraud allegedly perpetrated by the commercial bank has led to the blacklisting of his bank accounts and BVN from the banking system, depriving him of banking services.

The defendants UBA and NIRSAL Microfinance Bank.

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