A Federal High Court in Abuja declared the six-month suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan by the Nigerian Senate as unlawful, ruling that the Senate exceeded its constitutional powers and ordering her immediate reinstatement.
Justice Binta Nyako, who delivered the judgment, described the duration of the suspension as “excessive” and without a clear legal foundation.
According to the court, 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.
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.
“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.
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.
Nyako 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.
In a twist, the court imposed a monetary penalty on Akpoti-Uduaghan for violating a prior court directive that prohibited both parties from making public statements about the ongoing legal matter.
The fine runs into millions of naira.
