The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Thursday granted the application by Lagos State, through its Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo SAN, to be made a respondent in the appeal filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service on the controversial Value Added Tax.
The court, therefore, joins Lagos State as the Third Respondent in the appeal the FIRS filed to set aside the judgement of a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, which gave Rivers State the nod to collect VAT revenues within its territory.
The appeal by the FIRS came against the August 9, 2021 judgment by Justice Steven Pam of the Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, voiding the VAT Act and holding the states could collect VAT.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Haruna Tsanami, held that Lagos State had effectively shown that it has sufficient interest to protect by being made a party in the case.
The Court rejected the objections by the FIRS and the Attorney General of the Federation and proceeded to join the AG of Lagos State as the third respondent.
The Court ordered that all processes so far filed in the case be served on the AG of Lagos and that further proceedings in the case will continue at the Port-Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal on October 7.
