Our Reporter, Abuja
An aide to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe, on Friday said that the forgery allegation surrounding Nigeria’s gazetted Tax Reform Act has proven to be indeed true, accusing the Bola Tinubu-led administration of serial document manipulation and urging that the law be discarded entirely and reprocessed from scratch.
In a post on X, Ibe claimed that the Senate led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio had confirmed to the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee investigating the matter that the version of the Tax Reform Act published in the official gazette was not the authentic document passed by the National Assembly.
“Finally, the Sen. Godswill Akpabio-led Senate, which was pussy-footing over making available to the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee investigating the forgery of Tinubu’s Tax Reform Act the original documents relating to the law, has confirmed that indeed the law as gazetted is a forgery,” Ibe wrote.
He questioned the integrity of the Tinubu administration, asking, “The question is what other documents have the Tinubu-led APC government forged?”
Ibe also criticised what he described as moves by Senate President Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to fast-track the re-gazetting of the law, warning that such action could amount to replacing one illegality with another.
“But why is Akpabio and Speaker Abbas in a hurry to re-gazette the law?” he asked.
“Truth be told, forgery of a law or indeed of any document is a criminal offence for which all those involved in this treason against Nigerians must be brought to book.”
According to Ibe, the legislative process that led to the passage of the Tax Act cannot be bypassed, arguing that the leadership of both chambers lacks the authority to unilaterally order a re-gazetting of the law without the full approval of the National Assembly.
“The passage of the Tax Act involved a process and Akpabio and Abbas cannot usurp the powers of the entire NASS by unilaterally directing that the law should be re-gazetted,” he said, adding that the House ad hoc committee should be allowed to conclude its investigation.
He further suggested that both the allegedly forged version and the purported original document be discarded entirely.
“Methinks that the entire document both the forged version and the ‘original’ should be trashed to give way for an entirely new process from the scratch,” Ibe stated.
Ibe also claimed that the controversy was only uncovered because a member of the House, Hon. Abdulsammad Dasuki, raised the alarm, alleging that the disputed law could have been used to target opposition figures.
“If Hon. Abdulsammad Dasuki had not raised the alarm, we would have been stuck with a forged document that weaponises some aspects of the law to further selectively clampdown on opposition figures,” he said.
Reiterating his broader criticism of the administration, Ibe concluded, “I had said it before and it needs restating that what the Tinubu-led administration cannot forge or compromise does not exist…”
As of the time of filing this report, neither the Presidency nor the leadership of the National Assembly had issued an official response to the allegations.
Ikengaonline had reported that rights activist, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, had also faulted the plan of the National Assembly to re-gazette the tax laws.
