The African Democratic Congress (ADC), has called for the immediate suspension of President Bola Tinubu’s tax laws scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2026.
The party hinged the call on the discovery of some extraneous provisions allegedly inserted into the laws after they had been passed by the National Assembly.
A statement on Saturday by the spokesman of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, insisted that versions of the laws assented to by President Tinubu, were starkly different from the versions harmonised and passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.
The party warned that tampering with a piece of legislation after it has been passed by the National Assembly, was an indication that President Tinubu desired to concentrate all powers onto himself.
“For avoidance of doubts, under our constitution, only the legislature can make laws. Therefore, any legislation that has not been passed according to the provisions of our constitution cannot stand.
“To accept that the executive could whimsically insert or remove even a punctuation mark from a piece of legislation after it has been passed by the legislature, is to arrogate law making powers on the executive arm of government. This portends great danger to our democracy,” the party said.
The ADC said all the tax laws, signed by President Tinubu should be suspended forthwith, to allow for a full legislative review.
The party emphasised that such legislative review would enable the National Assembly expunge the extraneous provisions that were allegedly inserted into the laws by the executive branch.
“This is the only reasonable course of action if we must not give the dangerous impression that the principle of separation of powers enshrined in our constitution could be sidestepped by the President.”
The party also called for a public inquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding the “criminal alterations” of a duly passed law, and to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
The party said it took the position after a careful review of a number of reports confirming that versions of the tax laws signed by the President contained substantial forgery of key provisions that were not in the original law passed by the legislature.
“ADC’s forensic review of the original laws and the gazetted versions has also established beyond all doubts that key accountability provisions had been deleted and new provisions inserted which granted coercive powers to the Executive in the enforcement of the tax laws without recourse to the court.
“For example, one of the criminal insertions into the laws grants the government of Bola Tinubu the express power to arrest and take over the property of anyone who does not comply with the tax laws.
“The ADC’s position on the so-called tax reforms has been made clear. We do not support any tax that is more likely to compound the misery and hardship already faced by citizens and businesses.
“But this issue goes beyond taxations. It speaks to the criminal mindset of a government that has no ethical boundaries, has no regard for democratic institutions and will do anything to pursue its narrow selfish agenda.
“Altering legislations and gazetting same after they have been passed by 469 elected representatives of the Nigerian people is indeed a direct assault on constitutional governance.
“More fundamentally, it is indicative of the totalitarian instincts of a President desirous of concentrating all powers of government to himself, even if it means violating the very constitution from which he derives his authority.
“We also call for a full investigation and immediate prosecution of any official of government who may be found culpable in the execution of this act of forgery that touches at the very heart of our democracy,” the party said.
Leave a Comment