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NATASHA DARES SENATE, STORMS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, suspended lawmaker representing Kogi Central senatorial district, on Tuesday matched his word with action by storming the National Assembly.
She was spotted at the National Assembly park on Tuesday morning.
Riding in a black SUV accompanied by some other vehicles, she scaled the first security check but encountered hurdles at the second gate.
Some of her supporters who marched along the convoy were heard chanting in pidgin, “Na our Senator be this o, we no get another one”, to which others chorused, “Na our senator be this eh!”
The Senate had cautioned her to desist from forcefully resuming her legislative duties until the expiration of her suspension.
The warning followed the lawmaker’s vow to return to the Senate on Tuesday, based on a judgment by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, had said no court compelled the Senate to reinstate the embattled lawmaker.
He had said, “The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to reaffirm, for the third time, that there is no subsisting court order mandating the Senate to recall Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan before the expiration of her suspension.
“The Senate had previously issued two public statements after the court ruling and the release of the Certified True Copy of the Enrolled Order, making it clear that no positive or mandatory directive was issued against the Senate regarding her recall.
“Rather, the Honourable Court gave a non-binding advisory urging the Senate to consider amending its Standing Orders and reviewing the suspension, which it opined might be excessive.
“The Court, however, explicitly held that the Senate did not breach any law or constitutional provision in imposing the disciplinary measure based on the Senator’s misconduct during plenary.”
He noted that the same court found Akpoti-Uduaghan guilty of contempt and imposed penalties, including a ₦5m fine payable to the Federal Government and a mandatory apology in two national newspapers and on her Facebook page, a directive that has reportedly not been complied with.
“It is therefore surprising and legally untenable that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, while on appeal and having filed a motion for stay against the valid and binding orders made against her, is attempting to act upon an imaginary order of recall that does not exist,” he had said.
