BREAKING: Lagos Insists On VAT Collection As Appeal Court Reserves Ruling

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved ruling in an application filed by Lagos state seeking to join the Value Added Tax(VAT) collection case between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Rivers State Government.

A three-man panel of the court led by Haruna Tsammani gave the directive on Thursday after the respective lawyers argued their case.

M.J. Onigbanjo SAN, Attorney General of Lagos , argued that they should be joined because the issue affects the state.

He said that his state was constitutionally empowered to collect VAT.

He further prayed the court to join Lagos in the VAT matter.

“My lord, it is not in dispute that Lagos, one of the federating states in Nigeria is entitled to collect VAT and that’s our interest.

“Even the appellant recognized our interest in their application for stay of execution and injunction pending appeal.

“The appellant Respondents have recognized that Lagos state has an interest in this matter.

“That been the case, it cannot now lie in the mouth of the appellant to say that Lagos state has no interest in this matter,” he said.

He also argued that the fact that the court made an order directing Lagos and Rivers to maintain the status quo was proof that it knows that it was an interested party in the development.

“I urge that our application be resolved in favor of Lagos,” he prayed.

On his part, I.A Adedipe SAN, counsel for the First Respondent/applicant, AG of Rivers State, urged the court to join Lagos in the case.

But Tijani .A Gazali, Active Director Civil Appeal, Federal Ministry of Justice appearing for the Attorney General of the Federation(Second Respondent) said they have served their written address on Lagos.

But Lagos AG said that the AGF filed it out of time, adding that it should be ignored and struck out.

Gazali apologized for filing out of time and asked for the withdrawal of his written address.

As such, the panel struck out the AGF’s written address for being filed out of time.

Meanwhile, Muhammadu A. Magaji SAN, counsel for FIRS, contended that Lagos has not shown how aggreived they are to join the matter.

“It’s on record that despite the order of the Appeal Court, Lagos state went ahead to pass VAT act.

“We urge your lordship to discountenance their application,” he added.

After their arguments, the panel reserved ruling “to a date that will be communicated”.

Recall that following the legal controversy surrounding bids by the Lagos and Rivers State governments to start collecting Value-Added Tax (VAT), the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja had ordered parties involved to maintain status quo.

The ruling was given following an appeal filed by the FIRS seeking a stay of execution on a High Court judgement empowering Rivers State to collect VAT.

The three-member panel of the court led by Haruna Tsammani ordered all parties in the matter to “refrain from taking any action to give effect to the judgement of the Rivers state high court.”

The lower court had held that the Rivers State Government was right to collect VAT.