Appeal Court Orders Rivers, Lagos to Maintain Status Quo

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has given a ruling concerning who has the right to collect Value Added Tax.

Ruling on Friday, the Court of Appeal ordered both Rivers and Lagos States to maintain status quo on the collection of Value Added Tax, VAT, pending the determination of an appeal that was lodged before it by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.

The appellate court said the order was to preserve the ‘Res’ (subject matter) of the appeal before it.

Specifically, it ordered all the parties that have subjected themselves before it to “refrain from taking any action to give effect to the judgement of the Rivers State High Court”, which gave Rivers State Government the right to collect VAT revenue, instead of the FIRS.

A three-man panel of Justices of the appellate court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani made the order after it deferred hearing of an application Lagos State filed to be joined as an interested party in the matter, till September 16.

Lagos State had through its Attorney-General, Moyosore Onibanjo, SAN, protested against the issuance of an order for the maintenance of status quo, insisting that such order could not be binding on it, since it was yet to be joined as a party in the appeal by FIRS.

Details soon…