Atiku warns NASS against ‘dangerous precedent’ over gazetted tax laws

…says Senate confirmation of alterations raises grave constitutional issue

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned the National Assembly against setting a “dangerous precedent” by allowing corrections to alterations in the gazetted tax laws through administrative directives.

The former Vice President, in a statement on Sunday, said the Senate’s confirmation that the gazetted version of the Tinubu Tax Act does not reflect what was duly passed by the National Assembly raises a grave constitutional issue.

According to him, “A law that was never passed in the form in which it was published is not law. It is a nullity.”

Read also: Tax laws passed by N’Assembly different from gazetted version, Rep alleges

He counselled that only proper representation and passage by both chambers of the legislature, followed by fresh presidential assent, can validate the tax laws, not corrections made through administrative shortcuts.

Citing Section 58 of the 1999 Constitution, Atiku noted that the lawmaking process is clear and exclusive: passage by both chambers, presidential assent, and only then gazetting.

Describing gazetting as “an administrative act of publication,” Atiku added that it “does not create law, amend law, or cure illegality. Where a gazette misrepresents legislative approval, it has no legal force.”

He declared that such “post-passage insertion, deletion, or modification of a bill without legislative approval amounts in law to forgery, not a clerical error.”

Atiku therefore stated that no administrative directive by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, can validate such a defect or justify a re-gazetting without re-passage and fresh presidential assent.

“The attempt to rush a re-gazetting while stalling legislative investigation undermines parliamentary oversight and sets a dangerous precedent. Illegality cannot be cured by speed.

“The only lawful path is fresh legislative consideration, re-passage in identical form by both chambers, fresh assent, and proper gazetting.

“This is not opposition to tax reform. It is a defence of the integrity of the legislative process and a rejection of any attempt to normalise constitutional breaches through procedural shortcuts.”

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