• Alteration allegation baseless, Patriots back Presidency
• Nigerian airlines will collapse under new tax laws, says Onyema
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the Senate’s confirmation that the gazetted tax reform law does not reflect what was passed by the National Assembly raises a “grave constitutional issue”, insisting that a law published in a form never approved by lawmakers is a nullity.
But, a coalition of civil society organisations under the banner of The Patriots, dismissed claims that the tax laws were altered after passage by the National Assembly, describing the allegations as unfounded and misleading.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, said the new tax laws brought back charges that the 2020 tax law had removed.
Atiku also criticised reported moves to rush a re-gazetting of the law while legislative investigations were allegedly being stalled, describing such actions as attack on parliamentary oversight and a dangerous precedent.
In a statement posted on his X handle yesterday, Atiku explained that Section 58 of the 1999 Constitution clearly outlined the lawmaking process, which required passage by both chambers of the National Assembly, presidential assent, and then gazetting.
According to him, gazetting is merely an administrative act of publication and does not create, amend or validate a law.
Atiku warned that any insertion, deletion or modification of a bill after passage without legislative approval amounts to forgery rather than a clerical error.
He added that no administrative directive by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, could correct such a defect without a fresh legislative process.
“The confirmation by the Senate that the gazetted version of the Tinubu Tax Act does not reflect what was duly passed by the National Assembly raises a grave constitutional issue. A law that was never passed in the form in which it was published is not law; it is a nullity,” he said.
IN a statement yesterday in Abuja by Muhammad Dauda, the Patriots said its independent review of legislative records showed no material discrepancies between the laws passed by the National Assembly and the harmonised versions of the Acts.
The group noted that the Votes and Proceedings of May 28, 2025,from both the Senate and the House of Representatives remain the authoritative records of parliamentary decisions on the Tax Acts, emphasising that the documents were published on May 29, 2025, and have been in the public domain since then.
According to the group, a careful examination of the harmonised clean copies of the Acts, the Votes and Proceedings, and the Conference Committee Reports revealed that allegations of post-passage alterations “do not hold water”.
Reacting to claims that multiple versions of the Acts appeared in the Official Gazette, The Patriots clarified that gazetting is an administrative and ministerial function, not a legislative one.
ONYEMA, in an interview with Arise News yesterday, said the taxes that were reintroduced include customs duties on imported aircraft, aircraft parts, and engines, as well as Value-Added Tax (VAT) on tickets, noting they would further burden airlines with additional costs.
“There is VAT now on the importation of aircraft. So, if you buy an aircraft for $80 million, you are supposed to pay 7.5 per cent of $80 million,” he said. “Do the mathematics. From money borrowed from the bank, interest rates are 30 to 35 per cent. So, you bring in spare parts, you pay 7.5 per cent on your spare parts.”
The Air Peace CEO said the airline industry could not withstand additional burdens under the new tax laws.
“If we implement that tax reform, Nigerian airlines will go down in three months,” he said.
