Court Orders Senate to Recall Suspended Senator Natasha

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the Senate to recall Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was suspended in March 2025 following a controversial altercation with Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Nyako ruled that the six-month suspension imposed on the Kogi Central lawmaker was excessive and unlawful. The court declared parts of Chapter 8 of the Senate Standing Orders and Section 14 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act as overreaching and lacking in constitutional backing.

According to the judge, since the National Assembly is constitutionally permitted to sit for only 181 days in a legislative calendar, suspending a serving senator for six months was tantamount to depriving her constituents of their right to representation for nearly an entire session.

The court, however, held that Senate President Akpabio was within his rights to deny Akpoti-Uduaghan the opportunity to speak during a plenary sitting on February 20, noting she was not seated in her officially designated position at the time. Justice Nyako directed the senator to issue an apology to the Senate within seven days and publish it in two national newspapers.

Additionally, the court awarded a ₦5 million fine against Akpoti-Uduaghan for violating an earlier order which restrained all parties from making public comments about the case while it was ongoing.

The ruling follows months of tensions between the Senate President and the Kogi Central senator. Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended on March 6 after accusing Akpabio of sexual harassment and abuse of office, a claim the Senate dismissed as lacking procedural merit. The feud escalated when she filed a ₦100 billion defamation suit against the Senate President, even as the Senate referred her to its disciplinary committee.

The dispute gained national attention after the controversial seat allocation disagreement during the February 20 plenary, which reignited past tensions between both lawmakers. It also followed a July 2024 incident where Akpabio had publicly apologised to Akpoti-Uduaghan over a nightclub-related remark widely condemned as misogynistic.

Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan is also facing two ongoing legal battles in Abuja courts on charges related to alleged cybercrime and defamation.