{"id":111118,"date":"2021-11-23T14:29:39","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T13:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/?p=111118"},"modified":"2021-11-23T14:29:39","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T13:29:39","slug":"vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/","title":{"rendered":"VAT suit will test Nigeria&#8217;s respect for rule of law, says Wike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that the ongoing legal battle between his state government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the collection of value-added tax (VAT) will be a test case to Nigeria&#8217;s respect for the rule of law or otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>According to Wike,<span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0the state\u2019s decision to seek judicial interpretation on VAT collection was aimed at strengthening rule of law and deepening democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This was stated on Monday by Wike when<span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Ogho Okiti, managing director of BusinessDay newspaper, led a delegation to present a letter of nomination to him as the \u2018BusinessDay Most Impactful Governor Award\u2019 at the Government House, Port Harcourt, the state capital.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The FIRS and some state governments are currently embroiled in a legal tussle over VAT collection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rivers and Lagos state governments had enacted laws and called for decentralisation of collection, while some states want centralised collection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">But in September, a court of appeal directed the states to maintain status quo<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0pending the determination of an appeal filed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/20\/cape-verde-opens-first-embassy-in-nigeria\/\">FIRS<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rivers State had also asked the supreme court to the supreme court to set<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0aside an order of the court of appeal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">No date has been fixed for the hearing of the case at the apex court.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Speaking on the development, the governor explained that when the legal issue on VAT collection between the Rivers state government and FIRS came up, some people had accused him of trying to divide the country, even when they had not bothered to take a look at the 1999 constitutional provisions regarding the collection of VAT.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cI am happy today that the Attorney General (of the Federation) has gone to the Supreme Court to sue the Rivers State Government over VAT. Now that the Attorney General has gone to court, we are happy,\u201d Wike said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cBut, nobody wants to talk about him dividing the country. It is only when the Rivers State government goes to court that they will say we want to divide the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cThere is nothing wrong in interpreting the law. The judiciary has been given assignment and they took an oath of office to interpret the law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cIf you don\u2019t go to court, how will we know the position of the law? How will democracy thrive? How will we know that this country respects the rule of law?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Wike disclosed that Ita Enang, senior special assistant to the president on Niger Delta Affairs, was among those that commended him for approaching the court over the VAT matter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He recalled that during the just concluded annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Enang also commended his administration for implementing full autonomy for the state judiciary.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Rivers state governor said it was baffling that the same presidential aide could turn round to accuse him of treating judges badly in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He warned that the Rivers state government would not succumb to any committee set up by the federal government on the autonomy of state judiciary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to him, such a committee is unnecessary since the 1999 Constitution explicitly guarantees the independence of the judiciary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Wike said that although the federal government tended to profess it supported the autonomy of the judiciary, in reality, it had deliberately stifled that arm of government.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cFake autonomy which they are brandishing for the judiciary is not true. If the judiciary has autonomy, go and check the status of the federal courts,\u201d Wike added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cIf the judiciary had autonomy, would they have invaded the house of a justice of the supreme court?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that the ongoing legal battle between his state government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the collection of value-added tax (VAT) will be a test case to Nigeria&#8217;s respect for the rule of law or otherwise. According to Wike,\u00a0the state\u2019s decision to seek judicial interpretation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":32234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1180,384,13894,15406],"class_list":["post-111118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-firs","tag-nyesom-wike","tag-rule-of-law","tag-vat"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VAT suit will test Nigeria&#039;s respect for rule of law, says Wike<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that the ongoing legal battle between his state government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the collection of value-added tax (VAT) will be a test case to Nigeria&#039;s respect for the rule of law or otherwise.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VAT suit will test Nigeria&#039;s respect for rule of law, says Wike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that the ongoing legal battle between his state government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS PICKS \u2014 WITHIN NIGERIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/withinnigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SodiqAdewaleChocomilo?mibextid=ZbWKwL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-23T13:29:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/05\/ify_davies\/2021\/05\/11\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"701\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OChocomilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@withinnigeria\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/db8593431a99b3751c40316ba4b4a452\"},\"headline\":\"VAT suit will test Nigeria&#8217;s respect for rule of law, says Wike\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-23T13:29:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":603,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/ify_davies\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/11\\\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"FIRS\",\"Nyesom Wike\",\"Rule of law\",\"VAT\"],\"articleSection\":[\"National\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/\",\"name\":\"VAT suit will test Nigeria's respect for rule of law, says Wike\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/ify_davies\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/11\\\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-23T13:29:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that the ongoing legal battle between his state government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the collection of value-added tax (VAT) will be a test case to Nigeria's respect for the rule of law or otherwise.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/ify_davies\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/11\\\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/ify_davies\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/11\\\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg\",\"width\":701,\"height\":420},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/23\\\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"VAT suit will test Nigeria&#8217;s respect for rule of law, says Wike\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS\",\"description\":\"Latest &amp; Trending Nigeria News, Entertainment, Sports\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"WITHN NIGERIA MEDIA LIMITED\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Logo-dark-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Logo-dark-bg.png\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"WITHN NIGERIA MEDIA LIMITED\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/facebook.com\\\/withinnigeria\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/withinnigeria\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/withinnigeria\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/withinnigeria\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCo0qw0SqhKNTsQQM48FpdTA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/db8593431a99b3751c40316ba4b4a452\",\"name\":\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\"},\"description\":\"Lawal Sodiq Adewale aka CHOCOMILO is an award winning journalist. Mail me at Chocomilo@withinnigeria.com. See full profile on Within Nigeria's TEAM PAGE\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SodiqAdewaleChocomilo?mibextid=ZbWKwL\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/OChocomilo\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/adewale_chocomilo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"VAT suit will test Nigeria's respect for rule of law, says Wike","description":"Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that the ongoing legal battle between his state government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the collection of value-added tax (VAT) will be a test case to Nigeria's respect for the rule of law or otherwise.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"VAT suit will test Nigeria's respect for rule of law, says Wike","og_description":"Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that the ongoing legal battle between his state government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)","og_url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/","og_site_name":"NEWS PICKS \u2014 WITHIN NIGERIA","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/withinnigeria","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SodiqAdewaleChocomilo?mibextid=ZbWKwL","article_published_time":"2021-11-23T13:29:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":701,"height":420,"url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/05\/ify_davies\/2021\/05\/11\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@OChocomilo","twitter_site":"@withinnigeria","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/"},"author":{"name":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/db8593431a99b3751c40316ba4b4a452"},"headline":"VAT suit will test Nigeria&#8217;s respect for rule of law, says Wike","datePublished":"2021-11-23T13:29:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/"},"wordCount":603,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/05\/ify_davies\/2021\/05\/11\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg","keywords":["FIRS","Nyesom Wike","Rule of law","VAT"],"articleSection":["National"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/","name":"VAT suit will test Nigeria's respect for rule of law, says Wike","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/05\/ify_davies\/2021\/05\/11\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-23T13:29:39+00:00","description":"Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that the ongoing legal battle between his state government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the collection of value-added tax (VAT) will be a test case to Nigeria's respect for the rule of law or otherwise.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/05\/ify_davies\/2021\/05\/11\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/05\/ify_davies\/2021\/05\/11\/Nyesom-Wike1.jpg","width":701,"height":420},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/vat-suit-will-test-nigerias-respect-for-rule-of-law-says-wike\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"VAT suit will test Nigeria&#8217;s respect for rule of law, says Wike"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/","name":"NEWS","description":"Latest &amp; Trending Nigeria News, Entertainment, Sports","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#organization","name":"WITHN NIGERIA MEDIA LIMITED","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/01\/Logo-dark-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/01\/Logo-dark-bg.png","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"WITHN NIGERIA MEDIA LIMITED"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/withinnigeria","https:\/\/x.com\/withinnigeria","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/withinnigeria\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/withinnigeria\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCo0qw0SqhKNTsQQM48FpdTA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/db8593431a99b3751c40316ba4b4a452","name":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo"},"description":"Lawal Sodiq Adewale aka CHOCOMILO is an award winning journalist. Mail me at Chocomilo@withinnigeria.com. See full profile on Within Nigeria's TEAM PAGE","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SodiqAdewaleChocomilo?mibextid=ZbWKwL","https:\/\/x.com\/OChocomilo"],"url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/author\/adewale_chocomilo\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}