Minority caucus of the House of Representatives has confirmed that some sections of Nigeria’s newly gazetted tax laws were forged after the original was passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Bola Tinubu.
The development was revealed in an interim report of the minority caucus’ ad-hoc committee on tax laws that was set up to probe allegations of discrepancies between the tax reform Acts passed by the legislature and the versions published in the official gazette.
Controversy had ensued following a revelation by a member of the House, Hon. Abdulsamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto) that there were alleged discrepancies between the gazetted tax laws in circulation and the version passed by the National Assembly.
On December 28, 2025, the minority caucus vowed to unconditionally protect the independence of the legislature and Nigeria’s democracy.
The caucus also noted that any attempt to foist fake laws on Nigerians would amount to an attack on the constitutional role of the parliament.
On January 2, 2026, the caucus constituted a seven-member fact-finding committee chaired by Hon. Afam Victor Ogene. Other members are Hon. Aliyu Garu (Bauchi), Hon. Stanley Adedeji (Oyo), Hon. Ibe Osonwa (Abia), Hon. Marie Ebikake (Bayelsa), Hon. MB Shehu Fagge (Kano) and Hon. Gaza Gbefwi Jonathan (Nasarawa).
According to the committee’s preliminary findings, a comparison of the Certified True Copies released by the House with the earlier gazetted versions confirmed that alterations had been made, particularly to the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025.
The report revealed that at least three different versions of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act were in circulation, while the directive to align the Acts with the Federal Government Printing Press pointed to procedural anomalies that illegally encroached on the legislative powers of the National Assembly.
Among the contentious alterations identified was Section 29(1) of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, where reporting thresholds were lowered in the gazetted version from N50 million to N25 million for individuals and from N250 million to N100 million for companies, contrary to what was passed by the legislature.
The committee also flagged the introduction of new subsections 41(8) and 41(9) in the gazetted Act, mandating taxpayers to deposit 20 per cent of disputed tax amounts before appealing decisions of the Tax Appeal Tribunal—provisions which, it said, were absent from the authentic version passed by the National Assembly.
Other discrepancies include expanded enforcement powers under Section 64, granting tax authorities powers of arrest and asset sale without court orders; alterations to the definition of federal taxes under Section 3(1)(b), which removed petroleum income tax and VAT; and changes to Section 39(3), mandating tax computations for petroleum operations in US dollars instead of the currency of transaction.
In the National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, the committee observed that oversight provisions empowering the National Assembly to summon officials and demand quarterly and annual reports were deleted in the gazetted version, a move it described as a violation of the doctrine of checks and balances.
Given the anomalies, illegalities and impunity uncovered, the committee said the evidence so far warranted a deeper investigation to ensure accountability for what it described as an affront against the legislature and Nigeria’s democracy.
The panel, however, requested an extension of time to conduct a more comprehensive probe into the matter.
