Court of Appeal halts VAT War for now

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has ordered stay of execution of the ruling of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt ceding power to collect Value Added Tax (VAT) to River State government.
The court ordered parties to the legal dispute to refrain from giving effect to the judgment pending the hearing of the motion filed by the FIRS for an order staying the execution of the judgment.
The High Court in Port Harcourt had stopped the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) from collecting Value Added Tax (VAT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT) in Rivers State.
Justice Haruna Tsanami who led the three-member panel ruled that it was for the overriding interest of justice for the parties who submitted themselves before the court not to take further steps that would destroy the res.
The court has ordered the appellant to file and exchange their processes in the motion for joinder filed by Lagos state just as the respondents were equally given two days to respond.
The Lagos State Government which enacted the law to collect VAT on Friday applied to the Court of Appeal to be joined as a co-respondent in the appeal filed by the FIRS.
However, the Attorney General of Lagos State, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), argued that the application for joinder should be taken first before FIRS’ application for stay of execution, adding that it was in the interest of justice for Lagos State to be joined in the suit.
But the counsel for the FIRS, Mahmoud Magaji (SAN), argued that their application for stay of execution should take precedence over the application for joinder.
Justice Tsammani noted that it would be in the best interest of justice for the motion for joinder to be heard first. He stated that it was not necessary that the first application to be filed must be the one to be heard first.
Magaji, however, informed the court that he had just been notified by the FIRS office in Port Harcourt that they received the application for joinder. He prayed the court to allow him to prepare and file his response to it. He also applied for the status quo to be maintained.
The court adjourned the matter until Thursday, September 16, to enable the parties to file their response to the application for joinder filed by the Lagos State Government.