Facts:

The respondent Standard Alliance Insurance Company Limited issued a guarantee bond to secure a loan/overdraft granted by the appellant, First City Monument Bank to Fort Knox investment Ltd (its customer). Fort Knox Investment Limited thereafter failed to discharge its obligation on the loan/overdraft facility granted to it and this failure to repay the loan made the respondent bound to the appellant for the outstanding loan on the security of the guarantee bond it had issued. The appellant thus sued the respondent in the Lagos State High Court on the credit guarantee bond and during the trial, counsel to the respondent raised the issue of lack of jurisdiction on the part of the court to entertain the matter on the ground that it was a banking matter over which the Federal High Court had exclusive jurisdiction under section 251(1)(d) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The court below took addresses by counsel on the issue and in its ruling upheld the submission on lack of jurisdiction and struck out the case of the appellant