Between now and September 23, 2025 when the Senate resumes from its two -months recess, the legal and political fireworks will continue to trail the rejection of the Upper Chamber’s resumption request by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The Senator representing Kogi Central who was suspended on March 6, wrote to the leadership of the Assembly, notifying them of her plan to resume at the expiration of her suspension.
The Senate rejected her bid to return to plenary, insisting that her six-month suspension remains in effect pending the outcome of her appeal.
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In a letter signed by the Acting Clerk to the National Assembly, Yahaya Danzaria, the Senate confirmed receiving Akpoti-Uduaghan’s notification that she intended to resume legislative duties on September 4, 2025, which she argued marked the end of her suspension.
However, the Senate maintained that her suspension, which began on March 6, 2025, is still valid and cannot be lifted while the case is before the Court of Appeal.
“The matter remains sub judice and until the judicial process is concluded, no administrative action can be taken to facilitate your resumption”, the letter read.
According to the National Assembly, no administrative action will be taken until the Court of Appeal delivers its decision. It stressed that her suspension cannot be reviewed until the judicial process was fully concluded. Akpoti-Uduaghan was assured that she would be officially informed of the Senate’s final position once the case is resolved.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central, was suspended in March over alleged breaches of Senate standing orders. The senator approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, to seek redress.
The court ruled that the Senate acted beyond its powers by suspending Senator Natasha for six months and ordered for her recall.
Justice Binta Nyako, who delivered the judgement, described the duration of the suspension as “excessive” and without a clear legal foundation.
The judge pointed out that since the National Assembly is only required to sit for 181 days in a legislative year, suspending a lawmaker for roughly that same length of time effectively silences the voice of an entire constituency—a move she described as unconstitutional.
Since then Natasha has been making attempts to resume her legislative duties. On July 2, she was prevented from gaining entry into the National Assembly Complex to attend plenary.
The Senate stated that her suspension would only be reviewed after the appellate court delivers its judgement.
Reactions from lawyers, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, political pundits and political parties have been quick, mostly against the Senate. Some say the Senate is breaking its own rule, which imposed a six-months ban on the Senator, without regard to interference by the Judiciary. That to turn around and reject her request to resume plenary on the basis of a pending suit amounts to double standard.
President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero said the continued denial of the Senator’s resumption is a threat to democracy and “not merely an error in judgement but a brazen, premeditated assault on democracy itself, a direct threat to the social contract and a dangerous slide towards fascism masquerading as governance.”
“We warn the leadership of the National Assembly and their enablers: The Nigerian people, united across ethnic and religious lines, will not stand idly by while you cannibalise our democracy. The labour movement, as the historic defender of justice and the common good, will mobilise its immense membership and moral authority to resist this slide into autocracy. An attack on one senator today is an attack on the sovereignty of every Nigerian voter tomorrow,” he said, adding, “That you suspended a fellow Senator from her constitutional roles, depriving her people proper representation, is not sinful enough but you went ahead to ignore the rulings of the Court that voided her suspension and at the expiration of your illegal suspension, you are still denying her a return is the height of impunity and morally reprehensible. This is no longer a democracy.”
Political parties like her party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the African Democratic Congress, ADC, have accused the Senate President and the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Senate leadership of trying to stop Akpoti-Uduaghan from returning to the Senate after serving a six-month suspension, saying the move was aimed at denying the people of Kogi Central senatorial district their voice in the National Assembly and weakening the opposition.
National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba faulted the position of the Clerk of the National Assembly saying, “This reported action by the Clerk of the National Assembly smacks of a calculated attempt being orchestrated by the Akpabio-led APC Senate leadership to abridge the right of representation of the people of Kogi Central Senatorial District and deny them a voice at the highest law-making body in the country.”
The PDP said the decision violated the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Standing Rules of the Senate. It described it as a serious threat to democracy and national stability.
On the other hand, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi of the ADC, accused the Senate leadership of acting illegally and immorally by refusing to allow the Kogi Central lawmaker to resume her duties after completing a six-month suspension. He said, “The African Democratic Congress, ADC, observes with deep concern the continued obstruction of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming her seat in the Nigerian Senate after the completion of her six-month suspension. “We consider this development not only malicious, but also deeply injurious to the spirit of our constitutional democracy, especially the right to dissent,” Abdullahi said.
The party argued that the suspension, having been imposed by the Senate and not a court of law, had fully lapsed and could no longer justify barring the senator.
Three lawyers, including a former Attorney-General of Kaduna State, Mark Jacobs; former state publicity secretary of the Edo State branch of the Nigeria Bar Association, Douglas Ogbakwa and Teejani Jimoh, Esq., argued that the Kogi Central lawmaker did not need the finalisation of a judicial process to resume sitting at the National Assembly.
Jacobs said, “What I see is a further display of impunity gone wild. The Senate has always insisted that nobody, including the courts, should interfere with its constitutional powers to discipline members, yet, the same Senate suspended this woman for six months and when those six months expired, there should be no confusion; she should have been allowed to resume her seat.”
He accused the Senate of double standards, citing a court verdict that ruled her suspension as unconstitutional.
Jimoh, Esq., noted that the suspension lapsed on September 6, 2025, and said the clerk’s office had told the senator she could not return because the matter is pending at the Court of Appeal. Jimoh argued that the absence of a court order staying the senator’s return, the expiry of a fixed-term suspension should permit her resumption of duties.
“In our view, the fixed suspension imposed on March 6 had expired by September 6. A pending appeal at the Court of Appeal, without a specific stay order, does not automatically prevent her from resuming,” Jimoh said. Jimoh cited past judicial rulings that examined lengthy legislative suspensions and said those precedents support the principle that constituents should not be left without representation for extended periods.
For Ogbakwa, the “Senate cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time. You made the suspension order based on your rule. There should be no ambiguity at all in the matter. This is without prejudice to the pending cases in the court.”
The Senate is yet to issue a formal resolution on the matter. But judging from the Clerk’s statement, the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly may delay Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s resumption. She may have recourse to the law courts to assert her right. In a letter addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), Kamorudeen Ogunlana, her lawyer, Michael Numa (SAN), demanded that the senator be allowed to resume her legislative duties by Monday, September 15, 2025. The letter warned that failure to comply would compel Akpoti-Uduaghan to take legal action against the Clerk personally and in his official capacity.
“We strongly advise that you reconsider your untenable stance and comply with the Constitution and extant judicial orders. Take notice that failure to comply by Monday, 15th September 2025, will leave us with no alternative but to initiate proceedings against you,” the counsel wrote.
