Lawyer Slams Senate For Blocking Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s Return
Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has criticised the Nigerian Senate for preventing Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming her legislative duties despite completing her six-month suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended on March 6, 2025, following allegations of insubordination after she rejected a change of her designated seat during plenary.
She later challenged the decision in court but also wrote to the Senate, notifying them of her intention to resume on September 4, which she said marked the end of her suspension.
The upper chamber, in a letter signed by the Acting Clerk to the National Assembly, Yahaya Danzaria, on September 4, acknowledged receiving Akpoti-Uduaghan’s notification of her planned return but said she could not resume yet.
The Senate argued that her suspension “remains in force pending the outcome of a Court of Appeal case” she instituted against the red chamber, insisting that the matter is still sub judice and no administrative action can be taken until the judicial process is concluded.
In the letter to her, Danzaria stated that the suspension took effect on March 6 and that the Senate would only review her status after the Court of Appeal delivers judgment.
“The matter remains sub judice, and until the judicial process is concluded, no administrative action can be taken to facilitate your resumption,” the letter read in part.
But Effiong, a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, faulted the Senate’s stance, arguing that it violates the Constitution and amounts to double punishment.
“What is the substance of the appeal? The substance of the appeal relates to the legality and constitutionality of the six months suspension which has now elapsed.
“Because what they are now doing amounts to double jeopardy. She has been penalised for a definite period and has served that definite period,” he said.
Lawyer Slams Senate For Blocking Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s Return is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
