Natasha Fixes Date To Resume At Senate After Court Lifts Suspension
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the suspended senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has told her jubilant supporters in a video trending on social media, that she would resume her legislative activities in the red chamber on Tuesday this week.
She expressed gratitude to her supporters following a favourable court judgment that reaffirmed her position in the Senate.
She said, “I thank you for your support. I am glad we are victorious today. We shall resume in the Senate on Tuesday by the grace of God.”
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had on Friday nullified the six-month suspension slammed on Akpoti-Uduaghan by the Senate,
The court ordered that she should be recalled from suspension.
It also fined her the sum of N5 million for contempt of court over a Facebook post deemed to have violated an earlier court order.
The court declared that the six-month suspension slammed on her was excessive, unconstitutional, and an infringement on the rights of her constituents.
Justice Binta Nyako in a ruling that spanned multiple legal issues, held that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s Facebook post, a satirical apology directed at Senate President Godswill Akpabio, breached an interim injunction issued by the court on March 4, 2025.
That injunction had barred all parties from making public statements or social media posts relating to the ongoing suit she filed challenging her suspension.
The embattled senator was suspended for six months by the Senate in March after a rowdy plenary during which she accused Akpabio of sexual harassment.
The suspension had sparked outrage among various civil society groups and human rights organisations.
Akpoti-Uduaghan subsequently sued the Senate and its leadership, arguing that the action was a calculated attempt to silence her and disenfranchise her constituents.
In response to a satirical Facebook post dated April 27 – in which she offered what the court described as a “mock apology” to Akpabio, lawyers representing the Senate President filed a contempt application against her.
The lawyers claimed that the post was in defiance of the court’s gag order.
During proceedings, Akpoti-Uduaghan’s legal team contended that the post was unrelated to the suspension case, insisting it concerned her personal allegations of misconduct against the Senate President.
Justice Nyako, however, disagreed, stating that the post was clearly linked to the matter before the court and therefore constituted a deliberate breach of the court’s directive.
Delivering her ruling, Justice Nyako imposed a N5 million fine on the senator and ordered her to issue a public apology within seven days.
The apology must be published in two national dailies and reposted on her Facebook page.
