Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to halt the planned implementation of the newly enacted tax laws, which the Federal Government says are scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2026.
The new tax laws have continued to generate controversy, with fresh claims of discrepancies between the versions passed by the National Assembly and those later gazetted. In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, Ndume called on President Tinubu to set up an ad hoc committee to probe the alleged alterations and establish the facts.
The former Senate Chief Whip noted that proceeding with the implementation without getting to the root of the alleged forgery will create legitimacy challenges for the tax laws.
The representative of Borno South Senatorial District said: “With the controversy surrounding it, the President should constitute a team to verify the veracity of the claim and act accordingly.
“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.
He stressed that the President must thoroughly investigate the allegation of forgery, adding that a small committee should be constituted to examine the matter, even as the House of Representatives conducts its own separate inquiry.
