• Northern groups fault Tinubu on new tax, allege executive overreach
• New tax laws can’t take effect without addressing alleged forgery, says Falana
• Kachikwu urges Tinubu not to begin 2026 with tax burden
An Abuja High Court has cleared the way for the implementation of Nigeria’s new tax regime scheduled to commence today, dismissing a suit seeking to halt the exercise.
The ruling provides the Federal Government, the federal revenue agency, and the National Assembly with full legal backing to proceed with implementing the new tax laws.
However, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) faulted President Bola Tinubu’s insistence on implementing the new tax laws from January 1, 2026, describing the move as an assault on democracy amid unresolved allegations that the laws were altered after passage by the National Assembly.
For human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, the new tax laws cannot take effect until the controversies surrounding the legitimacy of their provisions, occasioned by allegations of insertion, are addressed.
On his part, former presidential flagbearer of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), DumebiKachikwu, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to suspend the implementation of the new tax reforms, warning that imposing additional tax obligations at the start of 2026 would further worsen the hardship faced by Nigerians.
The suit to stall the implementation was filed by the Incorporated Trustees of African Initiative for Abuse of Public Trustees, which dragged the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the President, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly before the court over alleged discrepancies in the recently enacted tax laws.
In an ex parte motion, the plaintiff sought an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government and its agencies from implementing or enforcing the provisions of the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025; and the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Act, 2025, pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The group also requested that the court restrain the President from implementing the laws in any part of the federation pending the hearing of its motion on notice.
However, in a ruling delivered on Tuesday, Justice Kawu struck out the application, holding that it lacked merit and failed to establish sufficient legal grounds to warrant the grant of the reliefs sought.
ACCORDING to the CNG, the President’s posture represents a grave affront on democratic values, particularly coming from a leader who has often portrayed himself as a beneficiary of Nigeria’s democratic struggle.
In a statement by its National Coordinator, Jamilu Charanchi, the CNG expressed serious concern over “credible discrepancies” between the versions of the tax laws debated and approved by lawmakers and those eventually transmitted for gazetting.
A review of verified facts, expert legal opinions, as well as submissions by lawmakers and independent observers, it added, indicates that the gazetted versions do not reflect what was approved by the National Assembly.
The CNG accused the Presidency, working alongside the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, of pursuing an ulterior agenda that could worsen the hardship faced by Nigerians through “the reckless enforcement of flawed and legally questionable” tax reforms.
Charanchi said: “These discrepancies are not minor drafting errors; they are substantive alterations that strike at the heart of legislative authority, constitutional order and the rule of law.
“This desperate push, despite glaring procedural breaches and widespread public opposition, betrays a governing mindset increasingly detached from democratic accountability, constitutional restraint and social responsibility.”
He faulted Tinubu for what it described as a contradiction between his pro-democracy credentials and his present posture, accusing him of ignoring widespread public calls for the suspension and review of the tax laws.
“Any law altered after legislative approval, without fresh debate and re-passage by the National Assembly, cannot be considered valid under Nigeria’s constitutional framework. To insist on enforcing such laws amounts to executive overreach and a direct assault on democratic governance.
“No amount of rhetoric about ‘structural reset’ or ‘once-in-a-generation reforms’ can justify bypassing due process or imposing legislation of questionable legitimacy on Nigerians. This posture only reinforces the suspicion that there is an ulterior motive behind the so-called tax reforms,” he added.
CNG demanded an immediate suspension of the planned implementation, full public disclosure of the versions passed by the National Assembly and those gazetted, as well as an independent legislative and judicial review of the alleged alterations.
FALANA, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in a chat with journalists at his Ilawe-Ekiti hometown yesterday, said the Federal Government ought to have used the last few days of 2025 to address the issue and make clean copies of the new tax laws available before January 1, 2026.
“If that was not done, the government will put itself in trouble by deciding to implement the laws. There are interest groups ready to challenge the legitimacy of the laws,” he said.
Tinubu, in a personally signed statement on Tuesday, insisted that the implementation of the new tax laws, including those enacted on June 26, 2025, and the remaining Acts scheduled to commence on January 1, 2026, would take effect as planned.
KACHIKWU, in a New Year message released in Abuja yesterday, entitled ‘We Can’t Start The Year With More Taxes’, likened the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the country to biblical oppression, arguing that the severity of hardship pushed many Nigerians to question the direction of the Tunubu administration.
He acknowledged that the President inherited a fragile economy, but faulted the policy direction taken so far, arguing that the remedies worsened the plight of ordinary citizens.
