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FG drags Lagos to Supreme Court over telecom levies

Posted by By Ise-Oluwa Ige on 2005/10/03 | Views: 573 |

FG drags Lagos to Supreme Court over telecom levies


FOR the fourth time in less than six months, the Federal Government has again approached the Supreme Court sitting in Abuja, begging it to void a telecommunication legislation recently enacted by the Lagos State government on the account that the law offended sundry federal legislations including company tax act.

ABUJA - FOR the fourth time in less than six months, the Federal Government has again approached the Supreme Court sitting in Abuja, begging it to void a telecommunication legislation recently enacted by the Lagos State government on the account that the law offended sundry federal legislations including company tax act.

The purport of the suit is to stop Lagos from collecting levies from telecom operators operating in its (Lagos) jurisdiction.

Private counsel prosecuting the case on behalf of the Federal Government, Mr Yusuf Ali (SAN) re-approached the court through an application for re-listing of the case.

The last time when the matter was listed for hearing, the Supreme Court struck out the suit for want of diligent prosecution.

Appealing for re-listing of the case, Ali explained that the lawyer he sent to court on the day the case was to come up got to the court late because his car broke down on his way.

The application for re-listing is yet to be heard while the fate of the entire case depends on the success or otherwise of the application.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Muhammad Lawal Uwais who is the administrative head of the court has already fixed October 6, this year for definite hearing in the case.

The Federal Government had also, two times in the recent past, challenged the Lagos legislation on telecommunication operation in the state but had withdrawn same before proper trial could commence in the case.

In the latest process filed by the Chambers of Mr Yusuf Ali (SAN), the Federal Government is contending, in a 19-point affidavit accompanying its writ of summons, that it had perused through all existing legislations in the country and could not see any that empowered any state including Lagos to make legislation on telecom operations.



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