By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives have accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of ordering the Clerk of the National Assembly to hide certified copies of the tax reform bill transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent, which was subsequently signed into law.

According to Peoples Gazette, two senators and four members of the House of Representatives said that the embargo placed on the certified copies of the tax reform bill by Akpabio has deepened suspicion and internal wrangling within the legislature, as lawmakers who requested copies of the assented bill were denied access allegedly on the order of the Senate President.

The legislators reportedly said the document was required to confirm that the version signed into law by the president was identical to the certified true copy passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The controversy was triggered by allegations raised by a House of Representatives member, Abdulsammad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto State), who claimed that the tax laws available to the public differed from the versions passed by the National Assembly.

Raising a Point of Privilege under Order Six, Rule Two of the House Rules, Mr Dasuki told the House that his legislative rights had been breached, insisting that the content of the gazetted tax laws did not reflect what lawmakers debated, voted on and approved during plenary.

He said that after the passage of the tax bill, he spent three days reviewing the gazetted copies alongside the Votes and Proceedings of the House and the harmonised versions adopted by both chambers.

“I was here, I gave my vote and it was counted, and I am seeing something completely different,” The Gazette quoted Dasuki as saying.

Dasuki added that copies of the gazetted laws obtained from the Ministry of Information did not match the versions approved by the House and the Senate.

The lawmaker stressed that his intervention was not aimed at moving a motion but at alerting the House to what he described as a serious breach of the legislative process and the constitution.

Following the allegation, several lawmakers reportedly formally requested copies of the signed law to compare it with the version debated and approved during plenary sessions.

The Gazette reports that it had seen a certified true copy of the tax bill as passed by the National Assembly, a development that has further raised questions about why the leadership would place an embargo on the assented version of the law.

However, as of the time of filing this report, neither Akpabio, the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly, nor Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, had commented on the matter.

But lawmakers said that officials in the Office of the Clerk informed them that they were acting on the instruction of Akpabio, who allegedly ordered that no copy of the assented tax law should be released to any legislator, according to The Gazette.

“What is unfolding before us is an attempt to subvert our nascent democracy, and we want Nigerian compatriots of good conscience to help us in this fight,” The Gazette quoted a ruling party senator as saying on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“I have personally approached the clerk’s office four times over the past week to ask for the certified documents but they keep saying the SP told them not to release them to anyone,” the senator added.

A member of the House of Representatives from Oyo State also described the situation as troubling, expressing disappointment over Speaker Abbas’ handling of the issue.

“This is supposed to be handled with the urgency and sensitivity it deserves,” the lawmaker said, adding, “But we have decided to punt this chaos into the new year even as it appears the administration may not scrap the January 1 implementation of the so-called law.”

Lawmakers said the content of the gazetted document has become central to the dispute, noting that access to the assented copy was critical to determining whether any alterations were made to the bill between its passage by the legislature and assent by the president.

They warned that withholding the document undermined legislative oversight and eroded trust within parliament.