Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has stated that modifying the tax acts after they have been passed by the National Assembly constitutes a breach of the constitution.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections said this in a statement on Sunday.
In the statement he personally signed, Abubakar noted: “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.”
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