Facts:

The appellant company, a customer of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc opened a current account with the bank at its Otukpo road branch, Makurdi. Some time in 1994 the company applied to the bank for an export financing facility of N6,000,000.00 (six million naira) to export cocoa beans to Decacia International Limited, London. The export financing facility was approved and was to expire on 31/5/95 but it was subject to the bank’s review or withdrawal at anytime without prior notice. Interest chargeable on the facility was at 21% per annum and commission on turnover will be charged at N3 per N1000 (one thousand naira).

On 18/7/95 the Managing director of the appellant company wrote another application asking for renewal or increase to the existing limit from N5,000,000.00 (five million naira) to N10,000,000.00 (ten million naira) for a one year duration and that the main reason for this increase was due to the mishandling of its import documentation by the bank’s international banking department. To this end, the bank obliged and granted an overdraft of N7,500,000.00 (seven million, five hundred thousand naira only), which was marked to expire on 23/10/96. The conditions for this overdraft were the same as those contained in the first loan granted.