The Senate has clarified that it cannot yet reinstate Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan until it has officially reviewed the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Federal High Court judgement ordering her recall.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, stated that the upper chamber is still awaiting the CTC of the ruling before taking any official action.
“The Senate had applied for the CTC since Monday. We expect to get the document, and once we get it, we are going to comply with the content of the court order.
But first, the Senate will sit and consider the contents of the CTC and when we look at the contents, then we shall take a position,”
Senator Adaramodu explained.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended by the Senate on March 6, 2025, following a recommendation from the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions. The suspension, which lasted six months, stemmed from sexual harassment allegations she made against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
As part of the sanctions, her salary and security details were withdrawn, and she was barred from entering the National Assembly complex.
Akpoti-Uduaghan challenged her suspension in court, and in a ruling delivered by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the Senate was ordered to lift the suspension. However, the court also fined her ₦5 million for contempt.
Addressing public reactions, Senator Adaramodu cautioned against misinterpretations of legislative processes by uninformed observers.
“Some Nigerians are fanning the Akpoti-Uduaghan matter out of their low level of understanding of the workings of the Senate,”
he said.
“Those acting in that direction are merely wishing the National Assembly to be a lawless institution.”
He stressed that the Senate, as a constitutional body, is empowered to formulate and enforce its own rules to ensure order and discipline.
“The Senate, by law, is empowered to make its rules that guide it. If we don’t have rules guiding us, we will become like barbarians.
If there is no rule on seating, it means early in the morning, I can wake up and say I want to sit where the President of the Senate is sitting because he is my colleague. That will turn the whole place into chaos and pandemonium,”
he added.
Adaramodu pointed out that even the court recognised the Senate’s right to operate by its own Standing Orders.
“The court recently averred in the case between Natasha and Akpabio that there are rules and that the Senate is constitutionally empowered to make rules that will guide its activities,”
he noted.
On the 180-day suspension period handed to Akpoti-Uduaghan, Adaramodu clarified that it includes non-parliamentary days.
“What the Senate rules say is that you should observe, adhere to and fulfill the 180 parliamentary days,”
he said, adding that the duration of suspension is at the Senate’s discretion.
“If it is established that the Senate can reprimand an offending senator and it is not in our books how many days or hours such senator can be suspended, then it is within the Senate’s right to decide,”
he concluded.
Senator Adaramodu, who represents Ekiti South Senatorial District, reiterated that only those within the legislative system can truly understand how it works.
