Wednesday, September 24, 2025 - 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.
The Senator representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha
Akpoti-Uduaghan.
“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.
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was accompanied by supporters as
she made her way to her office at the National Assembly on Tuesday, September
23, 2025.
The case was instituted on behalf of Senate President Godswill
Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
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.
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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