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From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
Former Senate leader, Ali Ndume, has called on President Bola Tinubu to halt the implementation of Tax Reform Acts and order an investigation into allegations of document alteration.
Ndume made the call in a statement in Abuja yesterday, saying the President’s intervention was necessary to prevent a legitimacy crisis around the tax laws and restore public confidence in the legislative process.
The appeal follows mounting pressure from opposition figures and civil society groups, including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which have questioned the integrity of the laws amid claims that the version assented to by the President may not be identical to the one passed by the National Assembly.
NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, in a statement on Tuesday, warned that the unresolved controversy poses a serious threat to constitutional governance. He said doubts surrounding the enactment process undermine transparency and credibility, insisting that implementation should not proceed until the issues are fully addressed.
“The Nigerian Bar Association considers it imperative that a comprehensive, open, and transparent investigation be conducted to clarify the circumstances surrounding the enactment of the laws and to restore public confidence in the legislative process,” Osigwe said, adding that all implementation plans should be suspended pending the outcome of such an inquiry.
The matter was first raised formally in the House of Representatives last week by Abdussamad Dasuki, who alleged that discrepancies exist between the tax laws gazetted by the Federal Government and the final version approved by lawmakers and forwarded to the President for assent.
Reacting to the allegation, Ndume urged President Tinubu to set up an ad hoc committee to determine whether the claims of alteration or forgery were valid. He cautioned that moving ahead with implementation without resolving the dispute would render the laws ineffective.
“With the controversy surrounding it, the President should constitute a team to verify the veracity of the claim and act accordingly,” Ndume said. “If the copy that was signed was altered, then the President should do the needful to bring the controversy to rest.”
The Borno South senator warned that failure to address the allegations would stall the reforms entirely. “If not, the controversy will continue. That is to say the tax law will not be implemented, because you can’t build on nothing.”
Ndume noted that calls for suspension and investigation have come from several quarters, including civil society organisations, the Arewa community and the NBA, stressing that the President should suspend implementation while the executive committee and the House of Representatives independently examine the claims.
He maintained that only a transparent review process would resolve the controversy and safeguard the credibility of the tax reform agenda.
