<p><strong> YAKUBU JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): </strong> The claim of the respondents who were plaintiffs at the Taraba State High Court, Jalingo was on the undefended list. The affidavit evidence of the plaintiffs at the High Court (the court below) is to the effect that sometime in April 2000 the sum of one million, six hundred and twenty-five thousand naira (N1,625,000.00) was advanced to the defendant by the plaintiffs to enable the former execute a certain contract and the defendant promised to pay back the money aforesaid, within two months. The defendant wanting to pay the debt above mentioned, issued two cheques, one on 5 May 2000 in the sum of N1,000,000.00 (one million naira) which bounced and another one in the sum of sixhundred and twenty-five thousand naira (N625,000.00) on 18 May 2000 which also bounced. Thereafter, the defendant paid the sum of five hundred thousand naira (N500,000.00) only to the late Alhaji A. A Liman, leaving the balance of one million, one hundred and twenty-fi…</p>