Facts:

The 1st claimant is a customer of the defendant. In 2008, the defendant advanced a facility of N72,000,000 (Seventy Two Million Naira) to the 1st claimant which was guaranteed by the 2nd claimant, the managing director of the 1st claimant, for the importation of trucks for the business of the 1st claimant. The claimants alleged that the defendant had been charging excessive interest on the said facility and that they had to engage the services of some financial consultants in order to determine the correct charges and to do a forensic audit of their accounts and the transaction between the parties.
The forensic reports of the consultants reveal that the defendant had been charging excessive interest, value added tax and Commission on Turnover on the claimant’s accounts and consequently they filed a suit at the High Court of Lagos State for the refund of the excessive charges and a penalty on the sum. The claimants further alleged that the facility was only released to them by the defendant one year after it applied for it and got approval, but that they went ahead to start deducting interest way above the Central Bank of Nigeria guidelines from the date the facility was approved. The claimants also claimed damages for the defendant’s dishonour of their cheques.
The defendant responded to the suit by filing its defence and a counterclaim denying the allegations of the claimant. The defendant counterclaimed for the sum of N102,098,362.60 (One Hundred and Two Million, Ninety Eight Thousand, Three Hundred and Sixty Two Naira and Sixty Kobo) being the accrued debt and interest rate of 23% per annum on the said sum. At the pre-trial conference, the presiding judge directed the parties to jointly appoint an independent auditor to reconcile the figures and prepare a consensus audited account. The parties failed to agree on the preparation of a joint audited account but instead prepared separate reports which were contradictory.