Fresh Crisis Hits Tax Laws As Reps Begin Probe
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, has constituted a seven-member ad hoc committee to investigate allegations of discrepancies between tax bills passed by the National Assembly and the versions later assented to and gazetted.
The committee was set up on Thursday during plenary, with Rep. Muktar Aliyu Betara named as chairman. Other members are Rep. Ahmed Idris Wase, Rep. Sada Soli, Rep. James Abiodun Faleke, Rep. Fred Agbedi, Rep. Babajimi Benson and Rep. Iduma Igariwey.
The decision followed a matter of privilege raised on Wednesday by Rep. Abdulsammad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), who alleged that the contents of the tax laws as gazetted differed from what lawmakers debated, voted on and passed in the National Assembly.
Raising the issue under Order Six, Rule Two of the House Rules, Dasuki said his legislative privilege had been breached. He told the House that after the passage of the tax bills, he reviewed the gazetted copies alongside the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, as well as the harmonised version adopted by both chambers, and observed what he described as discrepancies.
“I was here, I gave my vote and it was counted, and I am seeing something completely different,” he said.
Dasuki stated that copies of the gazetted laws obtained from the Ministry of Information did not, in his view, align with the versions approved by both the House and the Senate.
He stressed that his intervention was not a motion but an attempt to draw the attention of the House to what he described as a serious issue affecting the legislative process.
The lawmaker urged the Speaker to ensure that all relevant documents, including the harmonised versions, Votes and Proceedings of both chambers, and the gazetted copies in circulation, are presented for scrutiny by the House.
He cautioned that presenting laws different from those duly passed by the National Assembly could undermine public confidence in the legislature and raise constitutional concerns.
Presiding over the plenary, Speaker Abbas set up the committee to examine the allegations and report its findings to the House.
