Trouble brewing as Akpoti-Uduaghan insists on resuming at Senate on Tuesday

The lawmaker representing Kogi Central district, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has vowed to resume at the red chamber on Tuesday, 22nd of July 2025, relying on a pronouncement by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

In a judgement delivered on July 4, 2025, Justice Binta Nyako ruled that the Senate erred regarding the length of the suspension given to the lawmaker.

“Lawmakers are required to sit for 181 days per session. Suspending a senator for six months amounts to stripping her constituents of representation,” Nyako noted.

The Judge further stated that Chapter 8 of the Senate Standing Rules and Section 14 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act were “overreaching” and failed to specify a limit for suspending lawmakers, making the action against Akpoti-Uduaghan legally unsound.

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Even though the judgement didn't expressly order the recall of the senator, President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has filed an appeal while refusing to reinstate Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Recall that on March 6, 2025, the Senate suspended Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months for breaching its rules.

Speaking in her Ihima hometown of Kogi on Saturday, July 20, 2025, the suspended lawmaker said she has written to the Senate to inform them of her resumption on Tuesday.

“I have pretty much two months more before the six months expire. However, I have written to the Senate again telling them that I’m resuming on the 22nd, which is on Tuesday, by the special grace of God,” she said.

“I will be there, because the court did make the decision on that. Now, they argue that it’s an order — it’s not an order, but it is a decision.”

Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was in her constituency for a training programme to empower her constituents, noted that though her suspension did not stop her from working for her constituency, it hampered a major part of her responsibilities, which is to sponsor bills and motions on the floor of the Senate.

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“I did mention that every senator has three major functions. Legislative — which is the creation of laws and review of treaties. Then we have oversight — which is to oversee ministers and agencies. And then the third is representation — which I’m doing.

“Whereby I identify the problems and the challenges of my community, and I make sure I present them and have them captured in the federal budget. And I have done pretty well with that. Of course, I do miss putting up my bills there, but it didn’t stop me from working,” she added.