By Paul Effiong, Abuja
The House of Representatives has dismissed media reports claiming that the Minority Caucus constituted an ad hoc committee to probe recently enacted tax laws, describing such actions as procedurally invalid and lacking parliamentary backing.
The position of the House was contained in a statement signed by the Spokesman of the House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Akin Rotimi, which was made available to journalists yesterday in Abuja.
The statement, titled “Clarification on Caucus-led Activities and Parliamentary Procedure,” was issued to address what the House described as growing public confusion surrounding the issue.’While affirming the legitimate role of political caucuses in expressing dissent, engaging in advocacy, and raising concerns within a parliamentary democracy, the House reiterated the need to clearly separate political activities from formal parliamentary processes as recognised under its Standing Orders.
The statement further explained: “the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives (Eleventh Edition) vest the authority to constitute ad-hoc committees solely in the House acting in plenary or in the Speaker exercising powers conferred by the Rules.According to the statement: “no political caucus, whether majority or minority, has the power to establish a committee with investigative or oversight status.Meanwhile, the House also explained that caucus actions are non-binding, informal, and lack legal or institutional consequence.It, however, maintained that any interim or final report produced by a body constituted outside the prescribed parliamentary process cannot be laid before the House or received as a parliamentary document.
The statement also recalled that in December 2025, the House duly constituted a bipartisan ad hoc committee, following concerns raised by an opposition lawmaker over multiple documents purporting to be official gazettes of the tax legislation.
That committee, according to the statement, comprised members from both the ruling and opposition parties and was mandated to thoroughly investigate the matter in line with established parliamentary procedure.
It equally revealed that the 10th National Assembly has since published the official Gazette and issued Certified True Copies of the enacted tax laws, disowning all unofficial documents in circulation.
The House, therefore, reiterated its commitment to transparency and accountability but strongly warned that only committees constituted by the House or authorised by the Speaker carry parliamentary authority.
The Green Chamber, therefore, urged the public to treat any contrary initiative strictly as a political exercise rather than an official action of Parliament, observing that all illegalities are nothing but null and void and cannot stand the test of time.
