The suspended senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has vowed to approach the appellate court for interpretation of the legal impasse between her and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, after being denied entry into the National Assembly Complex on Tuesday.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan defied a heavy security blockade and arrived at the National Assembly complex on foot from the MOPOL gate, accompanied by supporters and activists, including prominent social activist Aisha Yesufu.
The lawmaker, whose suspension by the Senate is being contested in court, parked her vehicle outside the premises and walked through the main gate despite the rain, demonstrating her determination to resume her legislative duties.
Speaking to journalists after being refused entry, Akpoti-Uduaghan insisted that her suspension was procedurally flawed and fraudulent. "Even the suspension, ab initio, was fraudulent. The document that recommended my suspension wasn't even attested to by the committee members. It was just a photocopy of an attendance sheet passed off as their signatures," she stated.
The senator clarified the legal complexities surrounding her case, explaining: "There is no reason whatsoever, contrary to the publications that I read yesterday, that I should not resume today, because the Senate has appealed my suspension judgment. That is wrong. What I appealed is the contempt and that is separate. The judgment came in two parts."
She further elaborated on the distinction between the contempt case and her suspension: "One was to address the contempt which is based on the satirical apology letter which I made on Facebook which the judge thought it wise in her own stride that amounts to contempt. But I'm saying clearly that, that doesn't amount to contempt of court because what was before Justice Binta Nyako was not a matter of sexual harassment; it was a matter of suspension."
Akpoti-Uduaghan expressed concern that if she and her supporters were to back down now, the National Assembly would likely go into a two-month recess starting Wednesday, meaning she would have effectively served most of her six-month suspension by the time they reconvene in late September.
"I'm saying that because as of now, I'm no longer suspended," she insisted, reiterating her position that the suspension process itself was illegitimate from the beginning.
The standoff highlights ongoing tensions within Nigeria's legislative chambers and raises questions about parliamentary procedures and the legal remedies available to elected officials who believe they have been unjustly sanctioned.
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