Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said that the admission by the leadership of the National Assembly that the new tax laws was tampered with, nullifies the last as passed by both chambers of the Assembly.
According to him, the quick resort, by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House, Abbas Tajudeen, in ordering that the law be re-gazzetted, makes no meaning as the action will not cure the damage caused by tampering with the law as passed by NASS.
He said gazetting of a law is mere administrative process which neither amends nor creates a law.He said the only remedy available to the NASS, which also preserves integrity of the legislative process, was to withdraw the law and re-introduce it afresh.
Speaking in a tweet on his X handle shortly after Senator Akpabio called for the law to be re-gazzetted, Atiku said the call was a waste of time adding that the insertion of any clause in the tax law after it has been passed by NASS, was a criminal act.
Though he also called for a thorough investigation to establish how the law was tampered with, Atiku said NASS must only take actions that are procedurally proper in order to remedy the infractions.
According to him, the only legally correct process was re-enlisting the bill and letting the legislative process run its course before the bill is presented again for presidential assent.He warned against subverting the due process of the law by rushing to re-gazzette the law indicating that doing so would amount to curing and illegal act with another illegality.
“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.”
