A Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Binta Nyako, on Friday, 4 January, 2025 ruled that the Nigerian Senate acted beyond its powers by suspending Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, just as she subsequently ordered her immediate recall to the Red Chamber, reports business TodayNG.
Justice Nyako, who delivered the judgment, described the duration of the suspension as “excessive” and without a clear legal foundation.
According to her, both Chapter 8 of the Senate Standing Orders and Section 14 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, which the upper chamber relied upon, do not stipulate a maximum suspension period. As such, they were deemed overreaching in this case.
Nyako 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.
“While the Senate has the authority to discipline its members, such sanctions must not go so far as to deny constituents their right to representation,” Nyako ruled.
The court also held that Akpabio was not wrong to have denied Senator Natasha, who was not in the official seat that was allotted to her, the opportunity to speak during plenary, just as it also asked her to apologise to the Senate.
Justice Nyako added that the two pieces of legislation failed to specify the maximum period that a serving lawmaker could be suspended from office.
However, the court sided with Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on a separate issue, stating that his refusal to allow Akpoti-Uduaghan to speak during a plenary—on the grounds that she was not seated in her designated chair—did not amount to a violation of her rights.
The court also dismissed Akpabio’s argument that the judiciary had no business interfering in what he called an “internal affair” of the legislature, stating that fundamental rights and representation are matters squarely within the court’s purview.
The judge, however, imposed a monetary penalty that runs into millions of naira on Akpoti-Uduaghan for breaching a prior court directive that barred both parties from making public statements about the ongoing legal matter.
