LAWS PASSED IN PUBLIC, TAMPERED WITH IN SECRET

 LAWS PASSED IN PUBLIC, TAMPERED WITH IN SECRET

How the Alleged Alteration of Nigeria’s Tax Laws Threatens the Soul of Our Democracy

By Tijjani Sarki

Good Governance Advocate & Public Policy Analyst

There are moments when a nation must stop pretending that all is well, moments when silence itself becomes complicity. Nigeria has reached one of those moments.

What unfolded on the floor of the House of Representatives on 17 December 2025 was not routine parliamentary friction. It was a constitutional alarm bell. Loud. Stark. Impossible to ignore.

Hon. AbduSsamad Dasuki’s allegation that provisions of four Tax Bills lawfully debated and passed by the National Assembly were materially altered before being gazetted as Acts strikes at the very foundation of democratic governance.

If this allegation is true, it is not a typographical error.

It is not bureaucratic sloppiness.

It is a deliberate usurpation of legislative authority a silent coup against constitutional lawmaking.

And when laws are rewritten in the dark, democracy does not merely suffer.

It bleeds.

When the People’s Mandate Ends at the Printing Press

Nigeria’s Constitution is clear and uncompromising lawmaking power resides in the legislature. That power is exercised openly through debates, committee scrutiny, public hearings, and recorded votes. It is slow and imperfect, but it is legitimate.

What is now alleged makes a mockery of that process.

Having reviewed a summary of the aladged discrepancies between the Acts passed by the National Assembly and the versions later published in the official Gazette, one conclusion is unavoidable these are not cosmetic edits.

They are substantive rewrites.

Compromises painstakingly negotiated were erased.

Rejected proposals reappeared as binding law.

New obligations were imposed without debate, consent, or vote.

How does a law passed in the open re-emerge in secret changed in substance, yet clothed with legal authority?

This is not reform.

It is governance by ambush.

A Textbook Case of Constitutional Contempt

The Nigeria Tax Administration Act offers a disturbing case study.

Section 3(1)(b) in the gazetted version deletes key provisions on petroleum income tax and VAT, dismantling legislative compromises and inserting contradictions never approved by lawmakers.

Section 39(3) is rewritten to mandate the US dollar as the sole currency for computing tax obligations despite the National Assembly’s explicit rejection of that proposal in favour of transaction-based flexibility.

Section 41(8) appears entirely new, compelling taxpayers to pay 20% of a disputed assessment before exercising their right of appeal a provision never debated, never passed, and deeply offensive to the constitutional right to fair hearing.

Section 60(1) grants sweeping garnishee powers to tax authorities without judicial oversight, directly contradicting the Act passed by Parliament, which required court authorization. Worse still, Sections 60(4–5) selectively demand court approval from some authorities while exempting others despite the legislature’s clear intent that no authority should act without judicial supervision.

These are not technical adjustments.

They fundamentally reshape rights, obligations, and the balance of power between the state and the citizen.

And only one arm of government has the constitutional authority to do that.

It is not the Executive.

Who Rewrote the Law After the Vote?

This scandal raises questions that should disturb every Nigerian. regardless of party, ideology, or profession:

Who authorized these alterations?

Under what constitutional authority were Acts of Parliament rewritten?

At what point did policy ambition mutate into constitutional recklessness?

The consequences are already severe.

First, the credibility of the entire tax reform agenda has been gravely undermined. Reforms born of procedural deceit cannot command compliance or legitimacy.

Second, public trust already dangerously thin has been punctured yet again. Citizens cannot be asked to obey laws that shift shape behind closed doors.

Third, the brazenness of the alleged conduct signals a frightening normalization of impunity. When executive convenience overrides legislative authority, democracy becomes decorative present in form, hollow in substance.

Pause the Reforms. Defend the Republic.

For the sake of transparency, constitutional order, and institutional dignity, both chambers of the National Assembly must urgently and publicly investigate these allegations. Anything less would be a dereliction of duty.

Equally crucial, the proposed 1 January 2026 commencement date for the Tax Reform Acts must be suspended. To proceed under a cloud of illegality is to invite chaos years of litigation, regulatory uncertainty, and economic distrust.

Nigeria does not need reforms at any cost.

It needs reforms rooted in law, consent, and due process.

If Acts of Parliament can be quietly rewritten today, then no law is safe tomorrow. And when the law itself becomes unstable, governance slides toward arbitrariness.

This is no longer merely a tax controversy.

It is a defining test of constitutional fidelity.

History will remember who spoke up and who chose to look away.

Tijjani Sarki

Good Governance Advocate & Public Policy Analyst

24 December 2025

can be reached vis tijjanisarki.blogspot.com