The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar neither has the authority nor in a position to declare the new Tax laws a nullity.
Atiku lacked such power in a bid to push for the suspension of the January 1, 2026 commencement date over alleged alterations of some provisions of the Acts.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG argued that it was only the National Assembly that was legally empowered to scrutinise and take another close look at the allegations and determine the next action.
The group said: “It is a fact that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had never hidden his opposition to the tax reforms ever since the President Bola Tinubu’s administration proposed four bills to the National Assembly in 2024 to modernize the country’s outdated and often lampooned tax laws.
“We can easily recall how he surreptitiously lined up behind some elements who claimed that some provisions of the bills were skewed against Northern Nigeria. And while the President had remained focused on ensuring that the National Assembly amended the tax laws, Atiku lobbied the federal lawmakers to toe the line of the National Economic Council (NEC) which had, at the time, recommended the withdrawal of the bill for “broader consultation’ over a VAT sharing controversy.
“So it is not a surprise that the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate has again managed to throw and insert himself into the middle of another controversy on the tax reforms ostensibly to position himself as the face of the opposition.
“But the truth is that he lacks the authority or position to declare the new tax laws which are due for implementation, in a few days’ time, as a nullity over an allegation of alteration of some of the provisions after the bills had been passed into law.
“By pushing for the tax reforms to be suspended even before the conclusion of investigation on the issue by federal lawmakers, the former Vice President Abubakar and his supporters simply wanted to put a wedge in what they know would raise the profile of President Tinubu in the eye of majority of Nigerians who would be getting over 50 tax reliefs as early as January 2026.
“We also know that even before the latest controversy, there have been several false narratives ranging from tax identification to Value Added Tax (VAT) and bank account monitoring which had in recent weeks elicited clarifications from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
“We are however fully in support of the position of the President that there is no going back on the implementation of the tax reforms.
“Our position is that on no account should opposition elements who never saw anything good in the Tinubu administration have their way. We are glad that the Tinubu administration is pressing ahead with what is clearly the most significant overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades.
“We make bold to say that the Tax reforms are designed to simplify tax administration, reduce multiple levies, and improve revenue generation without necessarily overburdening Nigerians who have suffered years of unbridled nuisance taxes”
The group urged the National Assembly to complete its job on the tax laws by re-gazetting the Tax Acts in their correct form and ensure that clean copies are made available to Nigerians if it found the allegation of alterations to be true.
