The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has filed a petition with the Code of Conduct Bureau, urging an investigation into members of the Senate and other public officials over alleged irregularities in the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and the Tax Reform Laws.

In a statement released on Sunday, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said the group is calling for a swift, comprehensive, and effective inquiry into allegations that certain senators deleted provisions on the electronic transmission of election results from the Electoral Act Amendment Bill during plenary, despite the provisions having secured majority approval and without any debate on their removal.

“According to our information, certain members of the Senate allegedly removed the provisions on electronic transmission of election results from the Electoral Act Amendment Bill during plenary after the majority of the senators had voted for the inclusion of the provisions and without any debate on the proposed removal of the said provisions,” SERAP said.

The organisation also urged the Code of Conduct Bureau to probe alleged alterations to the Tax Reform Bills, which reportedly resulted in differences between the harmonised versions approved by the National Assembly and the copies later signed into law and gazetted by the Federal Government.

“Similarly, the National Assembly recently alleged that there are unlawful alterations and some material differences between the tax reform bills passed by the legislative body and the tax reform laws gazetted by the Federal Government.

“A Sokoto lawmaker, Abdussamad Dasuki, raised the issue under a matter of privilege, drawing the attention of the House to the alleged discrepancies between the harmonised versions of the tax reform bills passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and the copies gazetted by the Federal Government.

“The lawmakers said the alterations contained in the gazetted copies did not receive legislative approval. These alleged unlawful alterations raise questions over the legality and legitimacy of both the law-making processes and the versions of the tax laws circulated by the Federal Ministry of Information,” the petition added.

However, the Senate has denied removing provisions on the electronic transmission of election results, insisting that it only deleted the phrase “real time” from the clause, citing concerns raised by the judiciary.

Similarly, the National Assembly said it initiated investigations into the alleged discrepancies in the tax bills and subsequently issued a “certified” version of the Acts to resolve the inconsistencies. The laws took effect on January 1, 2026.

SERAP said the petition was filed pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 9 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers contained in the Fifth Schedule, Part I of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as well as sections 5 and 13 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

The organisation alleged that the processes culminating in the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and the signing of the Tax Reform Laws were tainted by changes to bill provisions without debate or due process, as well as alterations to the Tax Reform Bill carried out without the approval of the National Assembly.