Alleged alterations: Re-gazetting tax laws can’t validate defect –Atiku

From Ndubuisi Orji,  Abuja

Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has said the directive by the leadership of the National Assembly for a re-gazette of the tax laws cannot address alleged alterations of the Acts.

Atiku, in a statement, yesterday, stated that any post legislation alteration of any law passed by the parliament amounts to forgery, which cannot be cured by re-gazetting the law.

A member of the House of Representatives, from Sokoto State, Abdussamad Dasuki, recently raised the alarm about alleged alterations of the tax reform laws passed, earlier in the year, by the National Assembly.

In response, the House set up a seven man Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the allegations and report back to it for further legislative actions.

However, while the panel is yet to submit its report, the leadership of the National Assembly, last week,  directed the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA) to re-gazette the laws.

Nonetheless, the former Vice President said “the confirmation by the Senate 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. A law that was never passed in the form in which it was published is not law. It is a nullity.

“Under Section 58 of the 1999 Constitution, the lawmaking process is clear and exclusive: passage by both chambers, presidential assent, and only then gazetting. Gazetting is an administrative act of publication; it does not create law, amend law, or cure illegality. Where a gazette misrepresents legislative approval, it has no legal force.

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

No administrative directive by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, or the Speaker of the House, 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.”