IRONKWE
V.
U.B.A. PLC

OGAKWU JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): The appellants herein are customers of the 1st respondent bank. They subscribed to the 1st respondent’s share plus facility , whereby a loan was granted to them to enable them purchase shares of quoted Nigerian companies, which shares were to be later sold off at a profit in order to recoup the investment. Under this arrangement, the appellants provided 40% equity contribution towards the purchase of the shares while the 1st respondent gave the appellants the balance of 60% for the purchase of the shares as a loan. It was the case of the appellants that pursuant to this arrangement, a tripartite agreement was executed between the parties with the 2nd respondent being made the sole manager of the equity portfolio with the responsibility for daily monitoring of the performance of the shares purchased with a view to seeing that the shares are sold if the value falls below the alert level of 20% in order to avert a loss. The appellants contended …