Facts:

The plaintiff/appellant, Mr. Abatan was the owner of the property lying and situate at No. 5 Ayeni Street, Agege, Lagos. In 1992, the appellant approached the defendant/respondent Dr. Awudu and informed him of his interest in selling the property in order to settle the outstanding sum on a loan he obtained from the Federal Mortgage Bank. He showed all the relevant documents to the respondent and told the respondent that he would sell the house for N5 million.

On 26 March 1993, the respondent paid all the outstanding debt to the Mortgage Bank which was less than the sale price earlier indicated. In April that year, the appellant went back to the respondent asking him for the balance only to be told that he would be paid after respondent’s trip to London. The respondent paid N50,000.00 (Fifty thousand naira) when he returned in two instalments making the total amount paid to the appellant by the respondent to be N620,000.00 (Six hundred and twenty thousand naira). On the 27/11/1995, the respondent asked the appellant for the documents and was informed that the documents were not available.