The group said the alleged manipulation of the tax laws constitutes fraud, an economic ambush on citizens, and a direct assault on democracy and its foundational principles.
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has raised the alarm over what it described as a “treasonable subversion” of Nigeria’s democratic order, accusing elements within the Executive arm of government of secretly altering key provisions of recently gazetted tax reform laws after their passage by the National Assembly.
The group warned that the alleged alterations amount to an unlawful usurpation of legislative powers and demanded the immediate suspension of the implementation of the tax laws, a full-scale investigation, and the prosecution of all individuals involved.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, the CNG said it was deeply disturbing that tax reform bills which were “duly debated, subjected to public hearings, and passed by the legislature” were later “doctored, rewritten, and gazetted as law by some criminal-minded individuals.”
According to the coalition, Nigeria is witnessing “a brazen act of treacherous expropriation of constitutional authority by elements within the Executive arm of government,” describing the development as nothing short of “an executive coup against the National Assembly, carried out through stealth, impunity, and contempt for the Constitution.”
The group said the alleged manipulation of the tax laws constitutes fraud, an economic ambush on citizens, and a direct assault on democracy and its foundational principles.
It cited warnings by renowned constitutional lawyer, Professor Auwal Yadudu, who reportedly cautioned that such actions threaten constitutional governance, undermine the doctrine of separation of powers, and erode the credibility of the entire tax reform process.
Detailing what it described as “alarming alterations,” the CNG said a review of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act revealed “shocking discrepancies” between the version passed by the National Assembly and the one eventually gazetted.
According to the coalition, Section 3(1)(b) of the gazetted Act allegedly deleted provisions relating to Petroleum Income Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT), despite those provisions being explicitly adopted by lawmakers, thereby negating legislative consensus and creating internal legal contradictions.
It further alleged that Section 39(3) was altered to impose the United States dollar as the exclusive currency for tax computation, contrary to the version passed by the National Assembly, which allows computation in the currency of the transaction.
The group warned that such a change has “dangerous implications for sovereignty, inflation, and economic justice.”
CNG also alleged that an entirely new and punitive provision, Section 41(8), was “smuggled” into the gazetted law, compelling taxpayers to deposit 20 per cent of disputed tax assessments before they can access the right of appeal.
“This is exclusionary, oppressive, and prima facie unconstitutional, as it erects financial barriers to justice,” the coalition said.
The group further accused the drafters of granting tax authorities sweeping garnishee powers without court orders under Section 60(1), which it said tramples on due process and procedural fairness.
Even more troubling, according to the CNG, is that Sections 60(4) and 60(5) selectively require court orders for some authorities while exempting others, a distortion it insists was never contemplated by the National Assembly.
“These are not minor editorial changes but deliberate substantive rewrites,” the statement said, adding that the identified alterations may represent only a fraction of a wider manipulation across the four tax reform Acts.
Beyond the alleged legal infractions, the CNG claimed the entire tax reform agenda bears the hallmarks of a “neo-colonial and neo-imperial economic project” designed to satisfy the policy prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and other Bretton Woods institutions, at the expense of ordinary Nigerians.
The coalition said its suspicion was reinforced by a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and a French tax agency, Direction Générale des Finances Publiques, which it said was executed without public transparency or parliamentary scrutiny.
“Nigerians must ask: whose interests are these reforms truly serving?” the group queried.
The CNG demanded the immediate suspension of the implementation of all tax reform Acts, including the proposed January 1, 2026 take-off date.
It also called for a full, independent, transparent, and time-bound investigation by both chambers of the National Assembly, including a clause-by-clause comparison of the bills passed by lawmakers and the versions gazetted and assented to.
Charanchi further demanded the public exposure, identification, and prosecution of all individuals, agencies, or officials found to have authorised, executed, certified, or facilitated the alleged alterations.
“Failure to act decisively will deepen public mistrust, invite protracted constitutional litigation, destabilise the economy, and entrench a dangerous precedent where laws are rewritten behind closed doors,” he warned.
The coalition said it would not submit to fiscal obligations arising from laws “tainted by secrecy, fraud and constitutional illegitimacy,” insisting that democracy cannot survive where due process is sacrificed on the altar of executive arrogance.
“We demand transparency and accountability. Nigeria’s democracy must be defended, and the will of the people must never be tampered with,” the statement added.