Bassim Haidar’s Optasia Secures Abuja Injunction to Sidestep Nigeria’s Lending Rules

There is a particular audacity in a fintech using Nigeria’s courts to defy its own regulations. In April 2026, Optasia and its Nigerian arm obtained an Abuja injunction to prevent MTN and Airtel from suspending its airtime lending service. The FCCPC spent almost a year enforcing the 2025 Digital, Electronic, Online and Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations. It granted a 90-day compliance window from July 2025 and extended it to January 2026. Optasia did not comply. Instead, on April 24, 2026, it secured an interim order from the Federal High Court. The company argued the injunction was needed to protect millions who rely on airtime credit. This legal maneuver appears less about consumer welfare and more about safeguarding an unregulated business model. Optasia meets these rules in over 30 other countries. The real question is why it fights them in Nigeria.

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