CHIEF LAWSON OKAFOR & ANOR.
V.
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA

UWANI MUSA ABBA AJI, JSC (Delivering the Leading Judgement): The Appellants applied to the Respondent for a Licence to operate a Bureau De Change in January, 2014. The documentation and processing were still on-going when in June, 2014, the Respondent revised the guidelines upgrading the capital base and other components upwards in line with its Guidelines which the Appellants undertook to abide by the changes to be made therein from time to time, as part of the mandatory requirement to process their application. However, the Appellants found the capital Deposit of N 10 Million raised to N35 million unaffordable and withdrew their application. By July, 2014, the Respondent had refunded all payments made by the Appellants. Although the Appellants signed to be bound by the terms and conditions specified in the guidelines, as may be issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria from time to time, they made a U-turn and sued the Respondent for breach of contract claiming N150 Million damages thus…