A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdulsammad Dasuki, on Wednesday raised a matter of privilege on the floor of the House during plenary, alleging discrepancies in the tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions subsequently gazetted by the government and made available to the public.
Rising under Order Six, Rule Two of the House Rules on a Point of Privilege, the lawmaker alerted other legislators that his legislative privilege had been breached, insisting that the contents of the tax laws as gazetted do not reflect what lawmakers debated, voted on and passed on the floor of the House.
According to him, after the enactment and gazetting of the tax legislations by the Executive, he critically reviewed the gazetted copies alongside the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, as well as the harmonised version adopted by both chambers of the National Assembly, but noted some major discrepancies.
Dasuki told the lawmaakers in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly that he obtained copies of the gazetted laws from the Ministry of Information and National Orientation and found the contents to be inconsistent with what was approved by both the House and the Senate.
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He said: “I was here, I gave my vote and it was counted, and I am seeing something completely different.”
Dasuki stressed that the matter 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 the Constitution.
He, therefore, urged the Speaker to ensure that all relevant documents, including the harmonised versions, the Votes and Proceedings of both chambers, and the gazetted copies currently in circulation, were brought before the Committee of the Whole for scrutiny by all members.
According to him, 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 constitutional provisions.
The lawmaker clarified: “Mr. Speaker, I will be pleading that all the documents should be brought before the Committee of the Whole Thank you. The whole members should see what is in the gazetted copy and see what they passed on the floor so that we can make the relevant amendment. Mister Speaker, this is the breach of the Constitution.
“This is the breach of our laws, and this should not be taken by this honorable House. Thank you Mister Speaker”, he added.
Commenting on the matter raised by the lawmaker, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, who presided over the plenary, said he had taken note of the Point of Privilege raised by Dasuki and assured that action would be taken on the matter as a matter of legislative urgency.
