Rep Ogene defends minority caucus report on alteration of tax laws

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

Hon. Afam Victor Ogene, the Chairman, Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee on Tax Laws, has said the alterations discovered by his committee in the tax laws passed by the National Assembly should be a concern for legislators who prioritise law-making in the public interest over transient political considerations.

Ogene said this while reacting to a claim by Deputy Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, that the interim report by the Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee on alleged alterations in the Tax Reforms Acts has been overtaken by events.

Agbese said the interim report has been overtaken by events following the release of the Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the laws by the House of Representatives.

But while querying why Agbese decided to assume the role of spokesperson for the Executive in the matter, Ogene said the interim report of the the Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee interim was not designed to criticise the work of the National Assembly, impugn the integrity of its legislative processes, or implicate, in any way, the institution of culpability in the ‘shocking alterations’ after the laws has been passed.

He added that, rather, the report’s “factual content highlighted the concerning attempt by perpetrators of the illegal alterations to undermine the Legislature’s functional integrity and independence. This should be a concern for legislators who prioritise law-making in the public interest over transient political considerations.”

“This should be a concern for legislators who prioritise law-making in the public interest over transient political considerations,” Ogene said.

Ogene further noted that the Minority Caucus established a Committee for an independent fact-finding exercise on alleged alterations of the tax laws after they had been passed by the National Assembly, consistent with parliamentary best practices.

It added that the House leadership had earlier constituted another Committee, chaired by Rep Muktar Aliyu Betara, with a similar mandate to review the Tax Acts as passed by the House and the purported gazetted version, with the aim of identifying discrepancies and verifying the accuracy of the gazetted version.

“This raises the question: if, as Hon. Agbase claims, the alleged alterations in the Tax Reforms Acts have been overtaken by events following the release of the Certified True Copies (CTCs), why is the Betara Committee still sitting and has not been dissolved by the House?

“It is striking that Hon. Agbese’s statement asserts that “The concerns raised regarding discrepancies in the tax laws have already been comprehensively addressed by the House leadership. With the release of the Certified True Copies of the Acts, there is now clarity…”

“However, the only clarity, I must say, is that the irrefutable findings of the Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee’s interim report reveal that external actors within government bureaucracy have flagrantly undermined the National Assembly’s constitutional authority to legislate, compromising the integrity of key legislative documents and causing embarrassment to the institution and the nation.

“Speaking in the manner that Agbase has spoken will only continue to enable such unacceptable behaviour that ought to attract the collective upbraid of all lawmakers irrespective of partisan divide,” Ogene said.

“Does Hon. Agbese’s assertion that the affront to the National Assembly’s independence has been “comprehensively addressed” suggest that the institution is acquiescing to this development and will not pursue accountability for this significant procedural anomaly, which undermines the Assembly’s authority? Democratic institutions are strengthened when accountability is upheld, not when official malfeasance is overlooked. I trust, however, that the National Assembly’s leadership, with a nationalist Speaker Abbas Tajudeen on the driving seat, will continue to uphold the Legislature’s independence and protect the public interest,” he concluded.