Oyo State Government today asked the Appellant Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to join it in a suit instituted by the Rivers State Government against the Federal Government, joining the Attorney-General of the Federation, demanding the right of the state government to take over the collection of the Value Added Tax (VAT) from the Federal Government.
The suit, instituted by the Attorney-General of Oyo State, Prof. Oyelowo Oyewo, is seeking an order of the Appellate Court to enable Oyo State to join the suit as an interested party.
Oyelowo pointed out that if Oyo State had been aware of the suit at the Federal High Court, it would have joined from the outset, stressing that the state was unaware of the suit between the Attorney-General of Rivers State and the Federal Inland Revenue Service until the judgement was delivered.
According to the suit, Oyo State Government is asking for two orders: an order of the Honourable Court joining the Attorney-General of Oyo State as a respondent on the appeal with suit number FHC/PH/CS/149/2020 and appeal number CA/PH/282/2021, and any other order the Court may deem fit.
Other grounds upon which the application was expressly based include that the decision of the appellate court would affect the collection of VAT by the Oyo State Government, being one of the states which the judgement of the lower court recognised as entitled to collect VAT within its territorial jurisdiction.
Oyo State Government also indicated that the applicant (Attorney-General of the State) “represents the interest of the Oyo State government, whose interest in the collection of Value Added Tax within Oyo State will be impacted one way or another by any judgment delivered by this Honourable Court in this Appeal”.
Oyelowo pointed out that the reason for joining the suit was that, “The Applicant is a necessary party to this suit being a party who will be bound by the judgment of this Honourable Court in this Appeal adding, “The interests of the Applicant and that of the Respondent, in this case, are similar, being States within the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
In a 12-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, which was filed by the Director of Civil Litigation in the chambers of the Hon. Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ministry of Justice, Oyo State, Olatunji Sunday Thomas, the state stated that it was in the interest of justice that the court grants the application, adding that the joinder would not prejudice the Appellants/Respondents.
It stated that the state, being one of the 36 states of Nigeria, would be affected by the decision of the Appellate Court, adding that joining the state to the suit already instituted by Rivers State would help to avoid multiplicity of suits by the states against the Federal Government.
In a motion on notice also attached to the proceedings already filed before the court, Oyo State said it relied on eight grounds and declared that the state is a necessary party to be joined since it has sufficient interest in the outcome of the appeal.
The state further argued that after going through its processes, the Appellate Court would find that the application was necessary and that it has sufficient interest in the determination of the appeal as one of the states of the federation.
