Some senior lawyers have thrown their weights behind the call by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for the suspension of the implementation of the new tax laws over alleged post-legislative alterations.
The lawyers; Kabir Akingbolu, Malachy Ugwummadu and Ige Asemudara, while speaking in a chat with New Telegraph Law, at the weekend, said the allegation casts doubts on the integrity and transparency of Nigeria’s law-making process.
In his views, a rights activist, Kabir Akingbolu, expressed concerns over the issue of legislation duplication in the country. “It’s a sad reality that in Nigeria today, if you go to a particular bookshop to buy an enactment and you cite it in court, you will be surprised that another lawyer will cite a different one.
A good example is the Nigerian Constitution, there are more than 30 versions in circulation. This is very unfortunate and the same thing applies to the Electoral Act and the Evidence Act. “I think there is a need for government to regulate the printing of laws. So, I think the concerns of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) are well placed and I don’t think anyone should have an issue with them. The implementation of the tax laws should be suspended until the grey areas are sorted out”, Akingbolu said.
Speaking in the same vein, a former President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Malachy Ugwummadu, said the allegations, if proven, constitutes a grievous offence serious enough to warrant the withdrawal of presidential assent. He said: “If a lawmaker holds an authenticated copy of the harmonized bill sent to the president and finds it inconsistent with what was eventually signed and gazetted, it raises a “red flag” pointing to a possible breach of the legislative process.
“That should bother both the President and the National Assembly. It signals the presence of a fifth columnist in the legislative process. There must be a thorough investigation to establish how this happened and who was responsible. Whoever is culpable must face punishment for forgery.
“We should not run this country like a banana republic where documents can be falsified at that level without consequences”. In his submissions, a Lagos-based lawyer, Ige Asemudara, lauded NBA’s call, saying it is reasonable. “NBA’s call is reasonable. However, the power to nullify or declare a law void, suspend or repeal any law rests with the judiciary.
Other than the executive refusing to implement the law, there is nothing the executive can do. “Only the legislature and the judiciary can intervene. The National Assembly can intervene by passing a bill amending the law in part or whole or repealing it. The judiciary can intervene if a dispute on it is submitted to the court through a suit.
“Howsoever we look at it, the issues raised are critical and they must be looked into otherwise, the tax law would have been a circumvention of the collective will of the people whose representatives passed it in parliament and other unauthorized persons planted tares in it. Everything not passed by the National Assembly must be weeded out”, the lawyer said.
