Facts:

The respondent was incorporated under the Companies Act in 1964 with its registered office at No. 6, Reservation Road, Benin City and with a nominal capital of N20 million divided into 10,000,00 shares of N2.00 each. The appellant was a shareholder of the respondent company, holding 20% of its share capital having acquired 22,000 shares of the respondent’s nominal share capital in 1965, while the government of the then Bendel State held 80% of the respondent’s share capital. In addition to being a shareholder of the respondent, the appellant claimed also to be a creditor of the respondent and as a lessor of a mining lease, it assigned to the respondent in 1973 the unexpired term of its lease by an agreement. The said mining lease expired in 1990 but the respondent continued to extract limestone from the area. According to the appellant, from the said expiry date to the end of December 1992, the respondent had extracted from the said mining lease a total of 364,704 tonnes of limestone for which appellant was to have earned N120 per tonne.