The Presidency has dismissed allegations of having clandestinely amended certain sections of the recently passed tax reform laws, saying that the process was conducted within the legally prescribed framework of the constitutional process.
President Bola Tinubu recently signed four bills related to taxation into law. According to the Federal Government, this is the most profound change in the country’s taxation system in several decades.
However, it turned contentious when a member of the House of Representatives, Abdussamad Dasuki of the Peoples Democratic Party from Sokoto State, alleged some inconsistencies between the two versions of the tax laws as eventually passed by the National Assembly and those gazetted afterwards for general publicity.
During the plenary session on Wednesday, Dasuki raised the issue and argued that the laws contained in the gazettes did not embody the sections of the laws debated, approved, and adopted by the members of the parliament. He cautioned that any such unauthorized amendment would render the law open to any challenges of its veracity and legality.
Consequently, the House of Representatives established an ad hoc committee on Thursday to investigate the alleged anomalies. This move was revealed by the speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, who said a seven-member committee was formed to investigate the matter and report back to the House.
In reaction to this, the Presidency denied these allegations, stating they did not find any evidence of an alteration in these tax laws.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said the implementation of the tax reforms would not be derailed by the criticism he described as opposition-driven criticism.
Ajayi pointed out that there was no constituted authority claiming there was tinkering with the laws, seeing the charge as an attempt to raise controversy over government policies. He said the tax changes were passed through due process and would come into effect from January 1st 2026, adding that relevant government agencies had started preparing for the smooth implementation of the changes.
