Facts:

The respondent was a customer of the appellant at its Ado- Ekiti branch and on the 16th December, 2003, he paid to the appellant the sum of N250,000.00 (two hundred and fifty thousand naira) through a cheque drawn on his account with the appellant at its Ado-Ekiti branch to buy in the appellant’s shares which the appellant invited the public to buy. The respondent, on 28th December, 2004, when he heard nothing from the appellant either rejecting his application or returning his money or sending share certificate to him, wrote to find out what was amiss. The appellant did not reply to the said letter and on the 11th February, 2005, the respondent caused his solicitor to write to the appellant on the issue but to no avail.