Let us be clear: if Nigeria’s new tax laws were altered after passage by the National Assembly, then the Constitution has been violated. This is not rhetoric. It is black-letter law. The controversy surrounding the tax reforms has moved beyond policy disagreement. It now raises a far more dangerous question: who makes the law in Nigeria—The National Assembly or the gazette?
Members of the National Assembly and civil society organisations have alleged that the versions of the tax laws gazetted and presented for enforcement are materially different from the bills passed by Parliament. The alleged changes are not cosmetic. They reportedly affect enforcement powers, appeal conditions, and compliance obligations—matters that go to the heart of citizens’ rights and state power.
If this is true, Nigeria is facing a constitutional crisis.
Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution is unambiguous: legislative power is vested exclusively in the National Assembly. No ministry, no agency, no committee, and no official shares this power. Not even the President.
Section 58 of the Constitution reinforces this point. Once a bill is passed by both chambers, it is presented to the President only for assent or refusal. There is no constitutional space for post-passage “adjustments,” “clarifications,” or insertions. None.
The idea that a law can be substantively modified after Parliament has spoken is alien to constitutional democracy. It turns the separation of powers into a fiction and reduces legislative debate to theatre.
The official gazette does not make law. It announces law. It is a mirror, not a pen. The moment it ceases to reflect what Parliament passed, it becomes unconstitutional.
Why does this matter? Because tax laws are among the most coercive instruments of the state. They authorise assessments, penalties, account freezes, asset seizures, and prosecutions. These powers directly implicate constitutional rights, including the right to property under Section 44 and the right to fair hearing under Section 36.
No citizen should be subjected to coercive state power under a law whose authenticity is disputed.
If provisions were inserted or altered without parliamentary approval, those provisions are unconstitutional and unenforceable. Courts would have little choice but to strike them down. Enforcement actions taken under them would be legally vulnerable. Taxpayers would be entitled to resist compliance. Litigation would multiply. Administrative chaos would follow.
Those responsible would not be protected by claims of good faith or reformist zeal. Altering a duly passed bill is not a technical error. It is a usurpation of legislative authority and a breach of constitutional order. It is a Coup!
The economic consequences would be just as severe. Investors can live with high taxes. What they cannot tolerate is uncertainty about what the law actually says. A country where legislation can be contested after gazetting is not a predictable investment destination.
The government insists that the controversial versions circulating are fake. That may well be true. But in constitutional matters, assertion is not proof.
The remedy is simple and urgent. Publish the certified true copies of the bills as passed by the National Assembly. Publish the official gazetted versions. Place them side by side. Let Nigerians judge for themselves.
Anything less invites suspicion and undermines confidence in the reform itself.
Nigeria needs tax reform, yes. But reform that cuts corners on constitutional process is not reform—it is coercion. Efficiency does not excuse illegality. Progress does not override the Constitution.
This is not a time for spin or silence. It is a time for clarity.
If the law was altered, it must be corrected through proper legislative amendment. If it was not, the evidence must be released immediately.
Because the real danger is not a flawed tax policy. The real danger is normalising the idea that laws can be changed after Parliament has spoken.
Once that line is crossed, no law is safe—and no right is secure. Anarchy will reign. The Nigerian State will degenerate into a Gulag, and Nigerians will become “Victims” of a repressive state apparatus. That would impose a far heavier cost on Nigeria than any tax burden—one paid in weakened institutions and eroded constitutional trust.
Dr. Obaseki writes from Benin City, Edo State.
