Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take steps to resolve the controversy surrounding the new Tax Act before its implementation.
Controversy erupted after a member of the House of
Representatives raised the alarm that the version of the Act passed by the
National Assembly is not the one gazetted by President Bola Tinubu.
This prompted the House to set up a committee to investigate
the allegation against the background of the proposed January 1st
implementation date.
In a statement in Abuja, on Wednesday, Ndume appealed to the
President to shelve the January implementation date to allow for a thorough
investigation into claims and counterclaims over alleged alterations to the tax
laws.
He gave the advice amidst calls by politicians, Civil
Society Organisations, and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for the
suspension of the Act.
Specifically, the NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN),
warned that the controversies threaten the integrity, transparency, and
credibility of Nigeria’s legislative process, calling for a comprehensive
investigation.
In his appeal, Ndume urged President Tinubu to constitute an
ad-hoc team to investigate the allegations, saying proceeding with
implementation without resolving the issue would create legitimacy challenges
for the tax laws.
He said, “As a responsive leader that he has always been, he
should look at it to find out if the copy that was signed, whether the claim of
alterations was genuine, so that he will do the needful to bring the
controversy to rest.
“If not, the controversy will continue. “That is to say, the
tax law will not be implemented, because you can’t build on nothing.
“So, Mr. President should suspend the implementation until
the issues are resolved because so many civil society organisations, the Arewa
Community, the Nigerian Bar Association, are saying that he should withdraw the
Tax Law and investigate the allegation of forgery.
“Therefore, Mr. President should get to the root of the
allegation of forgery. The small committee that will be set up should look into
it while the House of Representatives does its own.”
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