The chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has called for restraint over claims of alterations to Nigeria’s tax laws, urging Nigerians to allow lawmakers to complete their investigation before drawing conclusions.
Oyedele made the call on Wednesday while speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show, amid growing controversy over alleged changes to sections of the tax legislation.
He said speculation based on unverified claims was unhelpful, stressing that the National Assembly was best placed to determine whether any alterations were made and whether such changes were substantial.
He cautioned against public debate over documents whose origins remain unclear, noting that some of the circulating claims could not be properly traced.
Addressing allegations that tax officials had been granted new powers to arrest citizens through law enforcement agencies, Oyedele said such powers were not new and already existed under the current law.
He said: “My view is we should allow the lawmakers to do their investigation and come up with what they consider to be an alteration that is substantial, and then they make the decision as to what to do subsequently, rather than trying to speculate and discussing things that we’re not even sure where those things came from.
“You also need to ask and say, you know, who will benefit from some of those things that they have said. For example, they said that one of the operations they claim the taxman said, ‘I can arrest you using law enforcement agent.’ But that power is not even new. That power is in the current law.
“The taxman has the power to investigate, and when the taxman needs help, he can call on help from including the police. So I don’t want to make any analysis of whether it’s right or wrong, because I’m not trying to justify what anybody did if indeed those things happened, I’m just saying let’s wait for the investigation to establish what indeed happened.”
