Alteration in the Tax Laws: Northern Pressure Group Urges NASS to Probe Allegations, Start Tinubu’s Impeachment

Chuks Okocha in Abuja 

The League of Northern Democrats (LND) has called on the Senate and the House of Representatives to investigate allegations of alterations in the tax reform laws recently assented to by the President, Bola Tinubu.

It also demanded that the national parliament invokes its constitutional powers under Section 143 to commence impeachment proceedings without any delay if the allegation is substantiated.

This was contained in a petition addressed to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.  

The petition on behalf of the group by Dr. Ladan Salihu, Publicity Secretary of League of Northern Democrats said, ”we wish to write to you in your capacities as the constitutional custodians of Nigeria’s legislative authority and the immediate institutional victims of the grave allegation made on the floor of the House of Representatives by Hon. Abdulsammad Dasuki (PDP-Sokoto) – namely, that the tax law gazetted and assented to by the president differs materially from the version duly passed by the National  Assembly.”

According to the spokesman of the group, ”If this allegation is established to be true, it no doubt constitutes a direct assault on the legislative powers vested exclusively in the national assembly by the constitution. 

”The president has no constitutional authority to amend, modify, substitute or rewrite a bill passed by parliament. His role is strictly limited to assent or refusal of assent. Any deviation from this is an illegal usurpation of legislative powers, a contempt of parliament and a grave breach of the constitution

The LND further said, ”Such conduct not only amounts to gross misconduct within the meaning of Section 143 of the Constitution, being a serious violation of both the constitution and the presidential oath of office, but also constitutes a serious act of dishonesty on the part of the president.

”It is not a technical irregularity; it strikes at the very foundation of separation of powers and constitutional democracy.”

The northern pressure group said that ”This allegation also arises against the backdrop of repeated executive actions widely criticised as unconstitutional, including the award of contracts reportedly amounting to approximately ₦15 trillion without prior appropriation or due process, in violation of Sections 80-83 of the Constitution.

”The pattern is one of systematic disregard for legislative authority and constitutional restraint”

Based on this, the group said, ”We therefore call upon you, as leaders of the National Assembly, to: Immediately institute a transparent investigation into the discrepancy between the bill passed by the legislature and the law gazetted and assented to; publicly lay both versions before the Nigerian people for verification; and –

”Invoke your constitutional powers under Section 143 to commence impeachment proceedings without any delay if the allegation is substantiated.

”Failure to act will not merely weaken parliament, it will irreversibly damage constitutional governance, reduce the national assembly to a subordinate appendage of the executive and institute full-blown dictatorship in the country.”, the league of northern democrats stated. 

The group also said that history will judge this moment as the constitution demands courage.