By Sunny Onyekwere
December 29,2025
A renowned pressure group, The Patriots has thrown its weight behind the decision of the National Assembly leadership to order for the re-gazetting of the Tax Reform Acts.
The group in a statement on Sunday, signed by its National Coordinator, Muhammad E. Dauda said its investigation has revealed that the National Assembly records have not been tampered with.
The statement read, “We, The Patriots, a coalition of Civil Society Organisations committed to constitutional governance, the rule of law, and legislative accountability, wish to express our firm support for the leadership of the National Assembly regarding the decision to re-gazette the Tax Acts 2025.
Recent public discourse has highlighted alleged discrepancies between the versions published in the Official Gazette, the Votes and Proceedings of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
It is important to state clearly that the Votes and Proceedings of 28th May, 2025 of the Senate and the House of Representatives constitute the authoritative records of the decisions of the National Assembly on these Acts.
We are aware that these Votes and Proceedings were published as far back as 29th May, 2025, and have been in circulation since then.
The group reiterates: We have taken our time to carefully go through the harmonized copies of these Acts, the Votes and Proceedings, as well as the Conference Reports.
Interestingly, we are yet to see any material discrepancies in the records of the National Assembly.
Continuing, the statement said “It is also alleged that there are two versions of the Acts published in the Official Gazette. We are yet to ascertain this allegation.
However, gazetting is a ministerial, administrative function, not a legislative responsibility. It exists to give the public notice of laws already validly enacted; it does not confer authority to alter, amend, or rewrite laws passed by the National Assembly.
Accordingly, any variance arising from administrative publication cannot override what both Houses of the National Assembly duly approved.
This principle has been affirmed by Nigerian Courts in a plethora of cases – See AGF vs Guardian Newspaper Ltd (1989) I NWLR (pt 99) 1 where the court recognized that administrative publications cannot alter the substance of law. AG of Lagos State Vs AG of the Federation (1986) NWLR (pt 17) 244, affirming that Acts of the legislature remain valid despite procedural irregularities in publications; and AG. Ondo State Vs AG of the Federation (2002) 6 NWLR (pt.764) 279, reinforcing that parliamentary intent as recorded in official records prevails over extraneous documents or clerical errors.
While allegations of alterations are serious and must be addressed through appropriate internal machinery, it is settled in law that the burden of proof lies on those making such allegations.
We have carefully studied the allegations, our findings revealed that there are no material alterations. Pending any judicial determination, Acts duly passed by the National Assembly remain valid, binding. Administrative irregularities, if any, cannot invalidate legislative Acts or justify undermining parliamentary authority.
We totally agree with the leadership of the National Assembly that re-gazetting the Tax Acts in their correct form – as reflected in the harmonized clean copies, the Votes, Proceedings and the Conference Report is proper, lawful, appropriate remedy. Calls for suspension of implementation or repeal and re-enactment are unnecessary, constitutionally unsound and risk creating avoidable legal and fiscal uncertainty.
We further commend the National Assembly leadership’s directive to the Clerk to the National Assembly to issue Certified True Copies of the Acts to members of the public upon request, as these promote transparency, legal certainty and public confidence.
We urge all aggrieved persons, the general public to respect parliamentary records, support prompt re-gazetting of the Acts, and refrain from narratives that undermine the authority of democratic institutions.
“We make the above submissions in the best interest of our country, the citizens and for good governance to prevail in our dear nation”.
