The issue of Court’s jurisdiction is without doubt a radical and crucial question of competence. If a court has no jurisdiction, the proceedings are and remain a nullity, however well conducted and brilliantly decided they might have otherwise been. The reason is that, a defect in competence is not intrinsic to, but rather, it is extrinsic to the adjudication. An attack on jurisdiction is no doubt a question of law, but it is much more than that, it is a question of competence. In TSKJ Construcoes Internacional Sociadade Uniperssoal LDA (“TSKJ”) v. Federal Inland Revenue Service (“FIRS”), the appellant approached the apex Court to decide in the main the following:
- the nature of the jurisdiction of the Tax Appeal Tribunal (“the tribunal”) in matters connected with or pertaining to federal taxation and,
- the legal effect of the jurisdiction of the tribunal vis-à-vis the constitutional original jurisdiction of the Federal High Court on tax related disputes.
