Atiku points out alleged tax alterations in New Tax laws, calls it “Treason against Nigerians.“

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has described the alleged alterations made to the Nigeria newly introduced tax laws as treason.

Public outrage has followed claims of discrepancies between the tax bills passed by the National Assembly and the version later gazetted by the Presidency.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, 23 December, Atiku said the alleged illegal and unauthorized changes amount to a “brazen act of treason against the Nigerian people,” stressing that such actions represent a direct assault on constitutional democracy.

According to Atiku, the alleged “draconian overreach by the executive arm of government undermines the fundamental principle of legislative supremacy in lawmaking”.

The former Vice President further accused the administration of being “more interested in extracting wealth from Struggling citizens, than empowering them to prosper”.

Atiku  listed provisions he claimed were unlawfully inserted into the tax bills after parliamentary approval, in clear violation of Section 4 and 58 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution”, he stated.

He alleged that new corrective powers were granted to tax authorities without legislative consent, including arrest powers, property seizure and garnishment without court orders, enforcement sales carried out without judicial oversight.

Atiku said, “These provisions effectively transform tax collectors into quasi-law enforcement agencies, stripping Nigerians of the due process protections that  the National Assembly deliberately included”.

The Former Vice President also claimed that the altered laws impose heavier financial burden on citizens, citing a mandatory 20 percent security deposit before appealing tax assessments, compound interest on tax debts, quarterly reporting requirements with lowered thresholds, and forced dollar based computation for petroleum operations.

He argued that such measures create financial barriers that prevents ordinary citizens from challenging unjust tax assessments while increasin compliance costs for business already struggling in a harsh economic climate.

Atiku further accused the government of removing key accountability mechanisms, including the deletion of quarterly and annual reporting obligations to the National Assembly, eliminating of strategic planning submission requirements, and removal of ministerial supervisory provisions.

By “eliminating oversight mechanisms, the government have insulated itself from accountability while expanding its powers - a hallmark of authoritarian governance”, Atiku said.

He said the alleged constitutional violations exposed what he described as a government obsessed with imposing higher tax burdens on impoverished Nigerians rather than creating opportunities for economic prosperity.

He lamented persistent inflation, the high rate of poverty in Nigeria, and rising unemployment. Arguing that punitive taxation and erosion of legal protections would only worsen the situation.

“True economic growth comes from empowering citizens, not impoverishing them the more through punitive taxation and constitutional manipulation to achieve short term fiscal goals”, Atiku stated.

The former Vice President called on the executive arm of government to immediately suspend the implementation of the tax law scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, to allow for a thorough investigation.

Atiku also urged the National Assembly to urgently correct the alleged illegal alterations through proper legislative procedures and hold those responsible accountable.

In addition, he called on the Judiciary to strike down any unconstitutional provisions and reaffirm the sanctity of the legislative process, while urging civil society and Nigerians at large to resist what he described as assault on democratic principles.

The former Vice President further called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC to investigate and prosecute anyone found guilty in the alleged illegal alteration of the law.

Atiku went further to say, “What the National Assembly did not pass cannot become law. This fundamental principle must be defended, or we risk ending up in arbitrary rule where constitutional safeguards mean nothing”.