Ali Ndume, former Senate leader and lawmaker representing Borno South, has called on President Bola Tinubu to halt the implementation of the new tax laws set to take effect on January 1, 2026, citing allegations of forgery.
On December 17, Abdussamad Dasuki, a member of the House of Representatives from Sokoto, claimed that the gazetted tax laws differ from the version passed by the National Assembly.
In response, the House of Representatives set up a seven-member committee to probe the alleged discrepancies.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ndume urged Tinubu to establish an ad hoc committee to verify the authenticity of the alleged alterations.
He warned that moving forward without resolving the forgery claims could undermine the legitimacy of the tax laws.
“With the controversy surrounding it, the President should constitute a team to verify the veracity of the claim and act accordingly,” he said.
“As a responsive leader that he has always been, he should look at it to find out, if the copy that was signed, whether the claim of alterations was genuine so that he will do the needful to bring the controversy to rest.
“If not, the controversy will continue. That is to say the tax law will not be implemented, because you can’t build on nothing.
“So, Mr. President should suspend the implementation until the issues are resolved because so many civil society organisations, the Arewa community, the Nigerian Bar Association are saying that he should withdraw the Tax Law and investigate the allegation of forgery.
“Therefore, Mr. President should get to the root of the allegation of forgery. The small committee that will be set up should look into it while the House of Representatives does its own.”
On Tuesday, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) also called for a suspension, noting that controversies surrounding the tax reform acts have cast doubts on the integrity and transparency of Nigeria’s lawmaking process.
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