A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr Sam Amadi, has stated that the ongoing controversy surrounding Nigeria’s new tax laws raised serious constitutional and criminal concerns, including the possibility of forgery.
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Speaking on Arise News on Tuesday, Amadi said the allegation was beyond policy disagreement but strikes at the heart of the legislative process and democratic legitimacy.
“This is of serious dimension,” he said, pointing to what he described as possible executive overreach and a breakdown in due legislative procedure.
According to him, if the version of the tax law gazetted was different from what was actually passed by the National Assembly, there is “prima facie a case of forgery.”
Amadi explained that the Supreme Court has clearly defined forgery as the existence of an original document and a fake version presented as authentic. “If, as has been established, the gazetted version of the tax law is not exactly what the National Assembly passed, then whoever altered it and presented it as law has committed forgery,” he said.
He further outlined two possible scenarios in the current tax law dispute, saying its either the President assented to a version different from what the two chambers passed, which would render the assent invalid and mean no valid law exists; or the President assented to the correct version, but someone later altered it before gazetting, which would amount to criminal forgery.
“Fiscal policy is not just about revenue,” he said. “The minimum requirement for taxing citizens is that taxation must be based on valid law. Anything else damages democracy, legitimacy, and the social contract that supports taxation.”
Amadi warned that enforcing taxes under a legally defective framework could lead to court reversals, public resistance, and erosion of trust in the state.
“Keeping the legal order proper is far more sensible for economic stability than cutting corners in the name of revenue,” he concluded.
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