Suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continues to drag the Godswill Akpabio-led Nigerian Senate to the mud following her petition to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in New York, United States amid her several litigations against the upper legislative chamber
By Udoka Ekeleme, Abuja
The Senator representing Kogi Central at the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has dragged the Nigerian Senate and its President, Godswill Akpabio, to the New York, United States-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) over her controversial suspension penultimate week. The IPU said it would hear from the side of Nigerian Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, before taking action, over the complaint brought before it by the suspended Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Natasha had earlier informed the Women in Parliament session at IPU about her suspension and the sexual harassment case against Akpabio.
In an emotional-laden speech, Natasha called for the intervention of the global democratic institutions, insisting that her suspension from Nigeria’s Senate was unlawful and an act of injustice against her.
In reaction to her complaint, the President of IPU, Tulia Ackson, promised to take steps as necessary, but first, noted that the institution would also listen to Akpabio before it would be able to take further steps to address her complaints.
Ackson said, “There was a matter that arose during the first session which we had this morning. The matter that was raised by our colleague from Nigeria, Senator Natasha, and because all of us heard what she said and it only serves us better if I put a word in what she has said.
The complaint laid by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan at the IPU on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 has continued to attract reactions.
The Kogi Lawmaker had taken her case before the global institution for them to prevail over what she says is an injustice meted out to her.
The Nigerian Senate has however replied to the Kogi Senator’s complaint to the IPU through a letter by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. According to the Nigerian Senate, Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended due to misconduct and disregard to the Senate Standin Orders not because of her allegation of sexual harassment against the President of the Senate, Akpabio.
The letter was read by the Chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, Honorable Kafilat Ogbara, who was attending the event in an official capacity representing Nigeria.
The Senate letter read in part, “Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended for gross misconduct and unruly behaviour and not as a result of allegation of sexual harassment or assault. The authority of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria firmly refutes the deliberate misinformation and false narrative being circulated by certain media organisations regarding the six months suspension of Senator Natsaha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
“Let it be unequivocally stated that Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended solely for her persistent act of misconduct and disregard for the Senate Standing Orders.”
Honourable Ogbara, however, called for a thorough investigation into the allegation by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan against Akpabio.
She maintained that procedures and necessary actions under the Senate rules were observed before Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension.
Penultimate week, the Senate suspended the lawmaker in a move that has continued to generate debates across the country.
She had initially submitted a petition to the Senate accusing Akpabio of sexual harassment. But the lawmakers threw it out before suspending her even after submitting another petition.
But Akpoti-Uduaghan had vowed to continue the fight against “injustice”. In the wake of the suspension, Akpabio denied the accusations and insisted he had never assaulted any woman sexually or physically.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s altercation with the Senate President started on February 20, 2025, after her seat was changed during plenary.
The event of that day was not the first time both individuals had issues. In July 2024, Akpabio had while trying to correct Akpoti-Uduaghan for her misconduct told her to follow the rules and that the Senate was not a nightclub where anybody would talk anyhow. Akpabio was later to apologise to her for the remark.
Reacting to the saga, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and one of the high-ranking Senators of the 10th Senate, Solomon Adeola, on Thursday, March 13, 2025 also knocked Akpoti-Uduaghan, and said she cannot project herself to be larger than the Senate.
The legislator representing Ogun West in a statement issued in Abuja also urged the IPU not to succumb to being used as an instrument of blackmail against the National Assembly.
His reaction comes in the wake of Thursday’s vote of confidence passed on the Senate President, Akpabio by his colleague Senators during plenary.
But Senator Adeola insisted that Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended for flagrant violation of the Senate Standing Orders and the constitution of Nigeria.
He said, “As a member of the 10th Senate with experience as a member of the 8th and 9th Senate, I make bold to say that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was in gross violation of the Senate Standing Orders and the Senate did the appropriate thing in her suspension.
“We are all senators-elect until sworn in. It is only then that we become Senators under oath to abide by the Constitution and the Standing Orders”
He also accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of not exhausting the internal mechanisms available to her to address her grievance in Nigeria before rushing to the IPU. The APC chieftain also stated that by filing a lawsuit against the presiding officer and the Senate, her petition cannot be entertained in the upper chamber until the court decides on the said suit.
Adeola said further, “The Senate as an institution derives its power from the Constitution to make rules for its orderly conduct. The outcome of its decisions can be challenged, but the Senate cannot be stopped from functioning as an arm of government”.
On her alleged sexual harassment against Akpabio, the Ogun lawmaker explained that making such a bold claim without concrete evidence against the Senate leadership amounts to an affront against the institution of Nigeria’s parliament.
He also dispelled speculation that female senators are suppressed, silenced and oppressed, adding that all honour and courtesies due to any senator are accorded to them within and outside the Red Chamber.
The senator also commended the House of Representatives Committee Chairperson on Women Affairs and Nigeria’s representative at the IPU, Oghara for standing for the truth.
“I want to call on the IPU, not to be coaxed to do anything that will diminish the status of the parliament as the bastion of democracy. IPU should not succumb to being used as an instrument of blackmail against a national institution of parliament.” Adeola stated.
He also praised the IPU president for not ‘swallowing’ the allegations of Akpoti-Uduaghan hook, line and sinker, and insisted that the Kogi legislator remained suspended until she had fulfilled the conditions offered to her to be reconsidered or if a court of competent jurisdiction decided otherwise in her case.
The renowned human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has on his part strongly condemned the recurring illegal suspension of legislators in Nigeria.
In a statement released on Sunday, March 9, 2025, Falana outlined numerous court rulings that have consistently nullified such actions, emphasizing the need for adherence to the rule of law.
Falana cited the case of Dino Melaye & 10 Other Legislators (2010). He recalled that in 2010, his law firm handled the case of Hon. Melaye and 10 other lawmakers who were suspended for accusing the Dimeji Bankole-led House of Representatives of corruption. The Federal High Court ruled that the suspension was illegal and unconstitutional, ordering the payment of their withheld salaries and allowances.
The fiery lawyer also mentioned the case of Hon. Rifkatu Danna (2012 & 2017) which in 2012, Falana’s law firm represented Hon. Danna, the only female member of the 31-member Bauchi State House of Assembly, who was suspended for challenging the relocation of the Tafawa Balewa Local Government headquarters. The Bauchi State High Court declared the suspension illegal and ordered her reinstatement and payment of all withheld entitlements.
In 2017, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s ruling, affirming that her suspension was a violation of the rights of her constituents.
Falana further mentioned the case of Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin (2018). In 2018, Hon. Jibrin was suspended for 180 days by the Yakubu Dogara-led House of Representatives for exposing alleged budget padding. The Federal High Court nullified the suspension and ordered the payment of his withheld salaries and allowances.
Another case cited by Falana was that of Senator Ali Ndume in 2017 whereupon the Federal High Court annulled the 2017 suspension of Senator Ndume by the Bukola Saraki-led Senate. The case, filed by his lawyer, Marcel Oru Esq., was decided based on the precedent set in Hon. Danna’s case.
Yet there was the case of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege in 2020 in which the Federal High Court in that year declared his suspension of Senator Omo-Agege illegal and unconstitutional. His case was handled by barrister Edward Omaga Esq, there were many similar other cases mentioned by the erudite lawyer to prove that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension is a nullity.
Therefore, Falana described the suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan from the Senate as “the height of legislative recklessness,” arguing that the Senate had disregarded a Federal High Court order restraining its Ethics Committee from proceeding with the matter.
Falana said, “The illegal suspension should be lifted without any further delay. The official impunity of suspending legislators at the whims and caprices of leaders of the federal and state legislative houses must not be allowed to continue in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, Akpoti-Uduaghan, has filed a contempt charge against the Senate President, Akpabio.
Also cited as contemnors in the Form 48 she entered before the Federal High Court in Abuja, are the Clerk of the National Assembly and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Code of Conduct, Senator Neda Imasuem.
The embattled Kogi lawmaker maintained that her suspension constituted a willful disobedience to a subsisting order the court issued against the defendants on March 4.
Based on her application, the court, in a notice of disobedience of court order signed by its Registrar pursuant to Section 72 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act 2004, urged the Defendants/Contemnors to take notice of their willful disobedience of the order that was issued against them by Justice Obiora Egwuatu.
The Court warned that disobedience of the subsisting order rendered Akpabio, Senator Imasuem and the Clerk of the National Assembly liable for contempt of court, for which they may be committed to prison.
According to the Form 48, the defendants/contemnors, “deliberately and contumaciously disregarded” a binding directive of the court and “proceeded with acts in flagrant defiance of the authority of the court.”
An enrolled order of the interim injunction that was issued by the court, was duly served on the defendants on March 5.
Justice Egwuatu had on the strength of an ex-parte application that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan filed through her team of lawyers led by Mr. Michael Numa, SAN, restrained the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Code of Conduct, from “proceeding with the purported investigation against the Plaintiff/Applicant for alleged misconduct sequel to the events that occurred at the plenary of the 2nd Defendant on the 20th day of February, 2025, pursuant to the referral by the 2nd Defendant on 25th February, 2025 pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction.”
The court further issued an order “directing the 1st-4th Defendants to come and show cause; why an order of interlocutory injunction should not be granted against them restraining them from proceeding with purported investigation against the Plaintiff for alleged misconduct without affecting her privileges as stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended), the Senate Standing Order 2023 and the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act.”
