Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Sunday intensified the debate over President Bola Tinubu’s signature tax reforms, asserting that the gazetted Tax Act is constitutionally invalid because it differs from the version passed by the National Assembly.

In a statement to journalists, Atiku noted that the House of Representatives’ acknowledgment that the published law deviates from the approved bill poses a “grave constitutional issue,” cautioning that any legislation not enacted exactly as passed by parliament “is not law.”

“A law that was never passed in the form in which it was published is not law. It is a nullity,” Atiku stressed.

He emphasized that the Constitution, under Section 58, clearly defines the lawmaking process, which includes passage by both the Senate and House of Representatives, presidential assent, and subsequent gazetting.
Atiku argued that gazetting is purely an administrative act of publication and “does not create law, amend law, or cure illegality.”

He further noted that if a gazette misrepresents what the legislature approved, it carries no legal authority.

The former vice president went on to describe any alteration of a bill after passage without legislative approval as “forgery, not a clerical error.”

Atiku maintained that no administrative directive from the National Assembly leadership could legitimize such a defect or justify re-gazetting without undergoing a new legislative process.

He said, “No administrative directive by the Senate President or the Speaker can validate such a defect or justify a re-gazetting without re-passage and fresh presidential assent.”

Atiku cautioned that efforts to fast-track re-gazetting while delaying a legislative investigation would weaken parliamentary oversight and set a dangerous precedent, stressing that his stance is not against tax reform but a defence of constitutional principles.