Senator Natasha Returns To Office Six Months After Suspension

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s supporters cheered and danced as they accompanied her from the FCT High Court to the NASS Complex on Tuesday.

The lawmaker representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on Tuesday, returned to her office at the National Assembly, six months after she was suspended by the leadership of the Senate.

The senator entered her office, located in Suite 2.05 of the Senate Wing, after it was opened by the Deputy Director, Sergeant-at-Arms, Alabi Adedeji.

“For me, I am glad to be here,” she said in her office for the first time in six months.

“Even though we had been illegally suspended, no day have I hesitated in effectively carrying out my duties as the senator of Kogi Central to the very best of my capacity,” she said in her office for the first time in six months,” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator added.

Although the Senate is currently on recess and is expected to resume plenary on October 7, 2025, her supporters cheered and danced as they accompanied her from the FCT High Court, where she appeared in a case of alleged defamation filed against her by the Federal Government, to the NASS Complex.

The case was instituted on behalf of Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.

Suspension

Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended over the alleged violation of the Senate’s standing rules, a decision that sparked mixed reactions.

Civil society organisations and opposition politicians condemned the Senate’s action, but the upper chamber defended its decision.

The PDP senator had approached the court in July over the matter and made an unsuccessful attempt to resume sitting.

While the matter is still in court, the lawmaker served out her six-month suspension in September and declared her intention to return to her duty.

She wrote to the Senate, informing it of her intention to resume, but the lawmakers, while acknowledging her letter, said they would not take action on it until the end of the court process.

“The matter remains sub judice, and until the judicial process is concluded, no administrative action can be taken to facilitate your resumption,” a reply by the Senate read in part.

The Senate maintained that her six-month suspension, which began on 6 March 2025, would only be reviewed after the Court of Appeal’s decision.

‘Rules Must Be Obeyed’

During a one-day capacity-building workshop in Abuja, the Chairman, Senate Committee on media and public affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, said that the upper chamber’s activities were guided by rules that must be obeyed, as it was not a banana republic.

‘The National Assembly is not a banana republic. We operate under rules that must be obeyed. It’s important that Nigerians are made to understand this, and you, the journalists covering the Senate, have a key role to play,” the senator told reporters.

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