By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said that the alleged illegal and unauthorized alterations made to Nigeria’s tax legislation, after passage by the National Assembly, represents a brazen act of treason against the Nigerian people and a direct assault on the nation’s constitutional democracy.
Atiku said this in a statement personally signed by him on Tuesday in Abuja.
The former two time presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, declared that this draconian overreach by the executive branch undermines the foundational principle of legislative supremacy in the making of laws.
According to him, “It reveals a government more interested in extracting wealth from struggling citizens than empowering them to prosper”.
The former Vice President pointed out that by stripping away oversight mechanisms, the government has insulated itself from accountability while expanding its powers—a hallmark of authoritarian governance.
According to him, “This constitutional violation exposes a troubling reality: a government obsessed with imposing ever-increasing tax burdens on impoverished Nigerians rather than creating conditions for prosperity. “Instead of investing in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and economic empowerment that would expand the tax base organically, this administration chooses the path of aggressive extraction from an already struggling populace.
“Nigeria’s poverty rate remains alarmingly high, unemployment continues to devastate families, and inflation erodes purchasing power daily. Yet rather than supporting citizens to become more productive, thereby generating sustainable tax revenues, the government employs draconian measures to squeeze resources from people who have little left to survive.
“True economic growth comes from empowering citizens, not impoverishing them further through punitive taxation and erosion of legal protections.
“A thriving economy with prosperous citizens naturally generates robust tax revenues.
“But this requires vision, investment, and patience, qualities evidently lacking in an administration that resorts to constitutional manipulation to achieve short-term fiscal goals”, he stressed.
Atiku therefore called on the Executive to immediately suspend the implementation of the tax law effective January 1, 2026 to give room for a proper investigation.
He harped on the National Assembly to immediately rectify “these illegal alterations through proper legislative processes and hold accountable those responsible for this constitutional breach”.
Atiku urged the Judiciary to strike down “these unconstitutional provisions and reaffirm the sanctity of the legislative process.”.
The former Vice President charged the Civil Society and all Nigerians to “reject this assault on democratic principles and demand governance that serves the people rather than exploiting them”.
He further enjoined the Government to abandon “this path of extraction and oppression, and instead focus on policies that enable Nigerian citizens and businesses to thrive”.
Atiku similarly enjoined the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to ” immediately investigate and prosecute those found culpable in the illegal alteration of our laws to extort and defraud the Nigerian people”.
In his words, “What the National Assembly did not pass cannot become law. This fundamental principle must be defended, or we risk descending into arbitrary rule where constitutional safeguards mean nothing.
“The Nigerian people deserve better than a government that circumvents democracy to impose hardship.
“We demand accountability, constitutional compliance, and economic policies that build prosperity rather than deepen poverty”, he stressed.
