The House of Representatives has begun a probe into alleged discrepancies between tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions subsequently gazetted and made available to the public.
The issue was raised on Wednesday by a member of the House, Hon. Abdulsammad Dasuki (PDP–Sokoto), who drew attention to the matter through a Point of Privilege under Order Six, Rule Two of the House Rules.
Dasuki told the House that his legislative privilege had been breached, alleging that the contents of the tax laws as gazetted did not reflect what lawmakers debated, voted on and passed on the floor of the House.
He said that after the passage of the tax bills, he reviewed the gazetted copies over the past three days alongside the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, as well as the harmonised version adopted by both chambers of the National Assembly.
According to him, the exercise revealed discrepancies between the documents.
“I was here, I gave my vote and it was counted, and I am seeing something completely different,” Dasuki said.
He added that copies of the gazetted laws obtained from the Ministry of Information were inconsistent with what was approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The lawmaker stressed that the issue was not about moving a motion, but about drawing the attention of the House to what he described as a serious breach of legislative process and constitutional provisions.
He urged the Speaker to ensure that all relevant documents, including the harmonised versions, the Votes and Proceedings of both chambers and the gazetted copies in circulation, were brought before the Committee of the Whole for scrutiny by all members.
Dasuki warned that allowing laws different from those duly passed by the National Assembly to be presented to Nigerians would undermine the integrity of the legislature and violate the Constitution.
Responding, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Abbas Tajudeen, said he had taken note of the Point of Privilege raised by the lawmaker and assured that appropriate action would be taken on the matter.
