Mr. Taiwo Oyedele’s public admission that a so-called “draft gazette” existed alongside a “final gazette” is not a harmless slip of language.
It is a grave confession of procedural recklessness.
In all my years of legislative engagement and parliamentary practice, I know of only one gazette recognized by law: a gazette that is duly signed, sealed, and published.
Anything else is internal paperwork, executive drafting, or administrative speculation, not law.
Under Section 1(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Constitution is supreme, and any act inconsistent with it is void.
The Supreme Court settled this principle emphatically in A.G. Federation v. Abubakar (2007) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1041) 1, holding that constitutional supremacy admits no administrative shortcuts, no matter how well intentioned.
Gazettes do not exist in versions.
They are not provisional promises.
They are not policy drafts for selective circulation.
They are conclusive legal instruments, and only derive authority from a law that has completed the full constitutional journey.
To suggest otherwise is to blur the boundary between lawful governance and executive improvisation.
LEGISLATIVE POWER IS EXCLUSIVE, NOT DELEGABLE BY CONVENIENCE.
Legislative authority in Nigeria is not shared, borrowed, or implied.
It is exclusive.
Section 4(1) of the Constitution provides clearly that legislative powers are vested in the National Assembly.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed this in A.G. Abia State v. A.G. Federation (2002) 6 NWLR (Pt. 763) 264, where it warned that any encroachment by the executive into legislative territory amounts to a constitutional violation, regardless of motive or urgency.
It is therefore deeply troubling to hear insinuations that substantive provisions circulated before committee deliberations, and that reports were prepared before committees even convened.
This is not reform.
It is institutional impersonation.
When executive actors pre-write committee outcomes, they usurp powers reserved exclusively for the legislature, in direct violation of Sections 4, 58, and 59 of the Constitution.
As the Supreme Court held in Inakoju v. Adeleke (2007) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1025) 423, separation of powers is not decorative.
It is the spine of constitutional democracy.
Once that spine is bent, governance collapses into arbitrariness.
DUE PROCESS IS NOT A TECHNICALITY, IT IS THE LAW
Yes, a bill may receive presidential assent under Section 58(4) of the Constitution.
But assent does not cure a broken process.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that failure to comply with constitutional procedure invalidates the outcome, no matter how polished the final product appears.
In A.G. Lagos State v. A.G. Federation (2004) 18 NWLR (Pt. 904) 1, the Court ruled that procedural compliance is mandatory, and that constitutional steps cannot be presumed, improvised, or retrospectively justified.
Similarly, in Adesanya v. President of Nigeria (1981) 5 SC 112, the Court warned that constitutional power must be exercised strictly in the manner prescribed, not as expediency dictates.
Procedure is not bureaucracy.
It is legitimacy.
TAXATION WITHOUT TRUST IS CONSTITUTIONAL COERCION
The claim that delaying the commencement of this tax law beyond January 2026 would “hurt Nigeria” is not merely misleading.
It is wicked, cruel, and profoundly insensitive.
Nigerians are not fiscal abstractions.
They are parents skipping meals.
Workers trapped in transport poverty.
Small businesses closing weekly.
Citizens paying more for survival than for living.
The Supreme Court in R. v. Princewill (1963) 1 All NLR 54 warned against the arbitrary exercise of state power under the guise of legality, holding that law must serve justice, not oppression.
A tax regime that prioritizes speed over suffering has lost its moral and constitutional compass.
HASTE IS NOT A CONSTITUTIONAL VALUE.
Mr. Oyedele knows as all serious policy actors know that:
• Tax legitimacy flows from trust, not urgency
• From production, not pressure
• From social consent, not elite insulation
In Military Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu (1986) 1 NWLR (Pt. 18) 621, the Supreme Court warned that once government abandons restraint and due process, it invites chaos and public resistance.
To insist on speed where process is broken is to weaponize technocracy against the people.
That is not reform.
It is coercion dressed in policy language.
RECORDS OUTLIVE POWER
History is unforgiving.
Power expires.
Judgments remain.
Archives do not forget.
Long after offices are vacated, records will show who defended constitutional order and who rationalized abuse in the name of efficiency.
Most of those driving these policies profess faith,Islam or Christianity.
Let it be remembered: God’s judgment requires no consultants, no fiscal models, and no executive memos.
It weighs intent, justice, and compassion.
CONCLUSION.
This moment
demands:
Reflection, not arrogance.
Restraint, not haste.
Humanity, not spreadsheets.
Nigeria does not need clever taxation.
Nigeria needs constitutional fidelity, lawful governance, moral leadership, and mercy for its people.
Hon. Zakari Mohammed
Spokesman, 7th Assembly
Abuja, Nigeria.
