A Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled that the Nigerian Senate acted beyond its powers by suspending Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months.
Justice Binta Nyako, who delivered the judgment on Friday, ordered her immediate recall to the upper legislative chamber
She described the duration of the suspension as excessive and without a clear legal foundation.
The court observed that 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.
The judge stated 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.
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 running 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.
