Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said the illegal and unauthorised alterations allegedly made in Nigeria’s tax legislation after passage by the National Assembly, is an act of treason against the Nigerian people and a direct assault on our constitutional democracy.
Atiku in a statement on Tuesday, accused President Bola Tinubu of undermining legislative supremacy in the making of laws.
“It reveals a government more interested in extracting wealth from struggling citizens than empowering them to prosper,” the former vice president stated.
Atiku added that the alleged inserted into the tax bills after parliamentary approval was a violation of Sections 4 and 58 of the 1999 Constitution:
He noted that coercive powers without legislative consent to arrest granted to tax authorities, the seizure of property seizure and garnishment without court orders, as well as enforcement sales conducted without judicial oversight, were allegedly inserted into the bill after passage by the National Assembly.
“These provisions transform tax collectors into quasi-law enforcement agencies, stripping Nigerians of due process protections that the National Assembly deliberately included,” Atiku argued.
He also noted the mandatory 20 percent security deposit before appealing tax assessments, the compound interest on tax debts, as well as quarterly reporting requirements with lowered thresholds and forced USD computation for petroleum operations, which were allegedly included, would increase financial burdens on citizens if allowed to stand.
“These changes erect financial barriers that prevent ordinary Nigerians from challenging unjust assessments while increasing compliance costs for businesses already struggling in a difficult economy,” he said.
Atiku also questioned the removal of accountability mechanisms in the bill, which he noted, included the deletion of quarterly and annual reporting obligations to the National Assembly, the elimination of strategic planning submission requirements, and the removal of ministerial supervisory provisions from the bill.
The former vice president said that by stripping the oversight mechanisms from the National Assembly, “the government has insulated itself from accountability while expanding its powers—a hallmark of authoritarian governance.”
Atiku told the All Progressives Congress (APC) that tax burdens impoverished Nigerians rather than creating conditions for prosperity.
“Instead of investing in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and economic empowerment that would expand the tax base organically, this administration chooses the path of aggressive extraction from an already struggling populace,” he said.
The former vice president decried the high unemployment in the country and said it devastates families while inflation erodes their purchasing power.
“Yet rather than supporting citizens to become more productive, thereby generating sustainable tax revenues, the government employs draconian measures to squeeze resources from people who have little left to survive.
“True economic growth comes from empowering citizens, not impoverishing them further through punitive taxation and erosion of legal protections.
“A thriving economy with prosperous citizens naturally generates robust tax revenues.
“But this requires vision, investment, and patience, qualities evidently lacking in an administration that resorts to constitutional manipulation to achieve short-term fiscal goals,” he said.
He therefore called for immediate suspension of the implementation of the tax law, which supposed to take effect from January 1, 2026, to give room for a proper investigation.
Atiku said the National Assembly should hold accountable those responsible for this constitutional breach.
He also called on the Judiciary to strike down these unconstitutional provisions and reaffirm the sanctity of the legislative process, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate and prosecute those found culpable in the illegal alteration of the nation’s laws to extort and defraud the Nigerian people.
“What the National Assembly did not pass cannot become law. This fundamental principle must be defended, or we risk descending into arbitrary rule where constitutional safeguards mean nothing,” Atiku warned.