Paystack, Qatar Airways Face ₦5.4m Ticket Payment Dispute as Journalist Demands Answers

A financial dispute involving fintech company Paystack Ltd and Qatar Airways has emerged after veteran journalist and publisher, Mogaji Wole Arisekola, alleged that ₦5,422,574 paid for a Business Class ticket from Lagos to London via Doha was withheld for several months.

Arisekola said he made the payment on May 27, 2026, through a bank transfer from his Parallex Bank account into a Paystack-Titan account provided for the transaction. The booking was reportedly made under reference number 7QC34K, with ticket number 1047489, ahead of his daughter’s graduation ceremony in London on July 15.

According to Arisekola, despite making the full payment, the ticket was not issued. He subsequently complained to Parallex Bank, which contacted Paystack over the transaction.

He alleged that on June 19, Paystack confirmed that the transaction had been successfully completed and the funds settled. However, the journalist said he still had neither the ticket nor a satisfactory explanation for the failure to issue it.

The dispute reportedly deepened when Qatar Airways allegedly informed him that the booking had been cancelled because the payment was disputed with his card-issuing bank.

Arisekola rejected the explanation, maintaining that he did not make the payment with a card but through a bank transfer, and that neither he nor Parallex Bank authorised or initiated any dispute over the transaction.

The journalist subsequently questioned who authorised the cancellation and what happened to the ₦5.42 million after Paystack allegedly confirmed that the payment had been successfully settled.

With his daughter’s graduation approaching, Arisekola said he was forced to purchase another ticket from Virgin Atlantic at short notice, incurring additional expenses of more than ₦3 million.

Lawyers Demand Refund

The matter continued until September 10, when Arisekola said his lawyers formally wrote to Paystack and Qatar Airways, demanding the refund of the ₦5,422,574 and explanations concerning the cancellation.

According to him, the money was eventually refunded on September 21, 2026, approximately four months after the original payment and following the intervention of his lawyers.

However, the refund has not ended the dispute.

Arisekola is demanding clarification on the precise reason for the cancellation, who initiated it, the date and time it occurred, the contractual or legal basis for the decision, and what happened to the funds between the reported settlement and eventual refund.

He has also said his lawyer intends to petition the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Office of the Minister of Aviation over the matter, while he considers further legal action.

The journalist described the incident as raising broader questions about consumer protection and accountability in Nigeria’s electronic payment and aviation sectors.

However, the allegation of diversion has not been established by a court. The available reports are based principally on Arisekola’s account and documents he says support his claims. Paystack and Qatar Airways should be given an opportunity to respond and provide their own account of the transaction and cancellation.

The central question raised by the dispute remains: **What happened to the ₦5,422,574 after the payment was reportedly confirmed as successful and settled, and why was the ticket not issued before the eventual refund?**