Sometimes in the months of June and July, 1979, the first three accused persons-Paulinus Oroh Bassey, George Okon and Justine Geku Orufa approached P.W. 3 - Amiaitari Theophilus Dadiole, an Assistant Manager attached to Union Bank, Aba Road, Aba in his house at No. 203, Tenant Road, Aba. They discussed with P.W.3 the possibility of opening an account with the Union Bank, Aba Road Branch. As they were discussing the matter, the 4th accused - Gabriel Erim (appellant) who was then the Manager of the Mercantile Bank Ltd, Aba branch came in and they all joined in the discussion after the P.W. 3 introduced the appellant to them as well as the topic.

P.W. 3 had declined the request to open the said account and they turned their request to the appellant. The appellant also queried them as to their motive for leaving Port Harcourt to open an account in Aba and told them that he was not interested in a crooked account.

On the 9th of July, 1979, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd accused opened the account with Mercantile Bank Ltd., Aba branch where the 4th accused (appellant) was manager at the time material to this case. The name Asirok Construction Company was used in opening the account. They presented a photocopy of registration of Business name No. 237918 and Orok Bassey who are signatories to the account which was numbered 1393.

The account was opened with an initial amount of N100.00 and from the opening of the account the 1st to 3rd accused were sending P.W. 1 (Patrick Nyong Effiong) to go to the Mercantile bank Ltd, Aba and find out from the manager (the appellant) whether their Mail Transfer Order had arrived.

Meanwhile a forgery, with the co-operation of the staff of the Mbukpa Road Branch of Mercantile bank Ltd., Calabar was perpetuated after the original, duplicate and triplicate copies of a Mail transfer Order No. 28008 was stolen from the Mbukpa Road Branch. With the false or forged mail transfer order (Exhibits 12 and 12A), the sum of N782,546.98 in favour of Airok Construction Company was transferred to the Aba Branch of the Mercantile Bank from the Mbukpa Road Brach, Calabar of the said bank.

Before the arrival of the mail transfer, P.W. 1 made only two lodgment of N30.00 and N20.00 on the 4th and 10th September, 1979 respectively bringing the total lodgment to N50.00.

On 20th September, 1979, the appellant (4th accused) received the Mail Transfer. He discovered that one of the signatories on the mail transfer was questionable and he called the attention for three bank inspectors who were then on inspection at the Aba branch of the bank. (P.W.5, P.W. 6 and P.W.15). After inspecting and comparing the signatures, they warned the appellant to be cautious in the handling of the mail transfer.

On 21st September, 1979, the first three accused presented two cheques No. A407503 for N124,350 dated 21/9/79 (Exhibit 14) and No. 407501 for N75, 650.00 of the same date (Exhibit 14A) totalling N200,000.00 and before payment were made, the cheques were presented to the appellant by the 1st to 3rd accused and he made arrangement for the money to be brought to his office for payment. The 1st, 2nd , 3rd and 5th accused persons made away with the money in a Mercedes Benz saloon car belonging to the 1st accused.

P.W. 4 - Clarence Patrick Udoh the Aba Branch Supervisor of Current Account and cash custodian warned the appellant not to pay the money and that he should first of all clear with the Mbukpa Road Branch, Calabar. The appellant defied his warnings and paid the money. On 24th September, 1979, the 2nd and 3rd accused persons came again and presented another cheque for N200,000.00 and the appellant was pressurized to go to Calabar and check from the Mbukpa Branch. The appellant was later informed that the document (mail Transfer Order) was a forgery and he then alerted the police.

On 25th September, 1979 , the P.W. 8 (Jonah Ekpo - An Assistant Superintendent of Police) arrived at the Aba branch office of the Mercantile Bank Ltd., with his men and informed the 4th accused (appellant) of their presence. P.W.8 was told to hold on as the other accused persons were in the appellant's office counting the money.

They waited in an office adjoining that of the appellant. There after the 2nd and 3rd accused persons came out with a carton and a brief case containing money. They were both arrested and taken to the police station. Aba along with the money which amounted to N200,000.00. The 2nd and 3rd accused persons were detained for further investigation which led to the arrest of the remaining accused persons and the recovery of the other exhibits.

At the trial seventeen witnesses gave evidence for the prosecution while the accused persons gave evidence of their own behalf. They called no witness. After evaluating all the evidence before him, the learned trial Judge convicted the accused person on all the counts of the information and sentenced each as follows:-

1st Count - 2 years I.H.L;

2nd Count - 2 years I.H.L;

3rd Count - 3rd years I.H.L;

4th Count - 7years I.H.L;

5th Count - 7years I.H.L;

6th Count - 7 years I.H.L;

The sentences were to run concurrently.

The 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th accused persons filed notices of appeal against judgment to the Court of Appeal. The 2nd accused did not appeal.

The appeals of the 1st, 3rd and 5th accused persons failed. The appeal of the appellant succeeded in part. His convictions and sentences on counts 4, 5 and 6 were set aside but those on counts 1, 2 and 3 were affirmed. Being dissatisfied the appellant has further appealed to the Supreme Court.