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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has raised the alarm over what it described as a brazen assault on Nigeria’s constitutional democracy, accusing President Bola Tinubu’s administration of forging key provisions of the 2025 tax laws after they were duly passed by the National Assembly.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said forensic checks of the original bills approved by lawmakers and the final gazetted versions reveal disturbing evidence of post-legislative manipulation. According to the party, critical accountability safeguards were quietly stripped out, while dangerous new clauses were unlawfully inserted to expand the coercive powers of the Executive.

Among the most alarming insertions, the ADC said, is a provision that empowers the Federal Government to arrest citizens and seize their property for alleged tax violations—without any judicial oversight. The party insisted that such draconian powers were never debated, approved or passed by the legislature.

This, the ADC argued, is not merely a policy disagreement but a criminal subversion of democratic governance.

“We are confronted with a government that has no ethical boundaries, no respect for democratic institutions, and no hesitation in falsifying the law to advance its narrow and selfish agenda,” the statement said.

The party warned that altering legislation after it has been passed by 469 elected representatives amounts to a direct and dangerous usurpation of legislative authority, and an open declaration of contempt for the Constitution.

“At its core, this is about power—unchecked, unaccountable power,” the ADC stated, accusing President Tinubu of harbouring totalitarian instincts and seeking to concentrate all arms of government in the Executive, even if it requires trampling on the very Constitution that confers legitimacy on his office.

The ADC stressed that under Nigeria’s Constitution, only the National Assembly has the authority to make laws, and any statute that emerges outside that process is illegal, null and void.

“To suggest that the Executive can insert or delete provisions from a law after it has been passed—down to a comma—is to abolish the separation of powers by stealth,” the party warned. “That is a path that leads straight to authoritarian rule.”

Consequently, the ADC demanded the immediate suspension of all 2025 tax laws signed by President Tinubu, insisting that a comprehensive legislative review is the minimum step required to restore constitutional order.

The party also called for a full-scale investigation and the prosecution of all officials involved in what it described as an act of legislative forgery that strikes at the heart of Nigeria’s democracy.

“This is a defining moment,” the ADC said. “Either Nigeria defends its Constitution, or it silently submits to the normalization of executive lawlessness.”

Full text of the ADC statement reads:

“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has reviewed various reports which confirm doubts that the various tax laws passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by President Bola Tinubu contain substantial forgery of key provisions that were not in the original laws passed by the legislature.

“ADC’s forensic review of the original laws and the gazetted versions has also established beyond all doubt that key accountability provisions were deleted and new provisions inserted, granting coercive powers to the Executive in the enforcement of the tax laws without recourse to the courts. For example, one of the criminal insertions into the laws grants the Bola Tinubu government the express power to arrest and take over the property of anyone who does not comply with the tax laws.

“The ADC’s position on the so-called tax reforms has been made clear. We do not support any tax that is more likely to compound the misery and hardship already faced by citizens and businesses. But this issue goes beyond taxation. It speaks to the criminal mindset of a government that has no ethical boundaries, has no regard for democratic institutions, and will do anything to pursue its narrow, selfish agenda.

“Altering legislation and gazetting same after it has been passed by 469 elected representatives of the Nigerian people is a direct assault on constitutional governance. More fundamentally, it is indicative of the totalitarian instincts of a President desirous of concentrating all powers of government in himself, even if it means violating the very Constitution from which he derives his authority.

“For the avoidance of doubt, under our Constitution, only the legislature can make laws. Therefore, any legislation that has not been passed according to the provisions of the Constitution cannot stand. To accept that the Executive could whimsically insert or remove even a punctuation mark from a piece of legislation after it has been passed by the legislature is to arrogate law-making powers to the Executive arm of government. This portends grave danger to our democracy.

“The ADC therefore calls for the immediate suspension of all the 2025 tax laws signed by President Bola Tinubu to allow for a full legislative review. This is the only reasonable course of action if we must not give the dangerous impression that the principle of separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution can be sidestepped by the President.

“We also call for a full investigation and the immediate prosecution of any government official found culpable in the execution of this act of forgery that strikes at the very heart of our democracy.”