Court Forces Senate To Reinstate Embattled Senator Natasha
The Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, has ordered the Senate to recall its suspended member, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, to the upper chambers of the National Assembly.
The Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, has ordered the Senate to recall its suspended member, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, to the upper chambers of the National Assembly.
The court, presided over by Justice Binta Nyako gave the order reinstate Senator Akpoti- Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, following her suspension by the Senate.
Delivering her judgment on Friday, Justice Nyako described the six-month suspension as disproportionate, even as she criticized Chapter 8 of the Senate Standing Rules and Section 14 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, labeling both as overly broad and lacking clear limits on how long a serving lawmaker can be suspended.
The judge emphasized that since lawmakers are expected to sit for a total of 181 days within a legislative year, suspending Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months was effectively stripping her constituents of representation for nearly the entire legislative period.
Acknowledging the Senate’s authority to discipline its members, Nyako noted that any such punishment must be proportionate and must not infringe upon the rights of the people who elected the lawmaker.
She, however, ruled that Senate President Godswill Akpabio was justified in preventing Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan—who was not occupying her assigned seat—from speaking during a plenary session, even as the court further dismissed Akpabio’s argument that the matter was strictly an internal Senate affair and outside the court’s jurisdiction.
Delivering her judgment on Friday, Justice Nyako described the six-month suspension as disproportionate, even as she criticized Chapter 8 of the Senate Standing Rules and Section 14 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, labeling both as overly broad and lacking clear limits on how long a serving lawmaker can be suspended.
The judge emphasized that since lawmakers are expected to sit for a total of 181 days within a legislative year, suspending Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months was effectively stripping her constituents of representation for nearly the entire legislative period.
Acknowledging the Senate’s authority to discipline its members, Nyako noted that any such punishment must be proportionate and must not infringe upon the rights of the people who elected the lawmaker.
She, however, ruled that Senate President Godswill Akpabio was justified in preventing Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan—who was not occupying her assigned seat—from speaking during a plenary session, even as the court further dismissed Akpabio’s argument that the matter was strictly an internal Senate affair and outside the court’s jurisdiction.
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