The Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, returned to the National Assembly on Tuesday after months of suspension, launching a sharp attack on Senate President Godswill Akpabio, whom she branded a “dictator.”
Her comeback followed the unsealing of her office in Suite 2.05 of the Senate Wing by Deputy Director of the National Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms, Alabi Adedeji. “I, Alabi Adedeji, Deputy Director, Sergeant-at-Arms, hereby unseal the office. The office is hereby unsealed. Thank you,” Adedeji declared in a video.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who had been barred from Senate activities since March 6, stood defiant as she resumed work, insisting she had “no apology to tender.” She said, “In retrospect, it is actually amazing how much we have had to pay in the past six months, from the unjust suspension to the recall. But we survived the recall, blackmail and that crazy lady on Facebook.”
Expressing gratitude to her constituents and her husband, she added, “In everything, sometimes it is good to push the institution to the test. We can’t cower in the face of injustice. No one is more Nigerian than us. Senator Akpabio is not more of a senator than I am. He is not the governor of this place, yet he treated me as if I were a servant or domestic staff in his house. It is so unfortunate that we will have a National Assembly being run by such a dictator. It is totally unacceptable.”
The senator’s six-month suspension, imposed in March after she protested the reassignment of her seat by Akpabio, was ruled unconstitutional in July by the Federal High Court in Abuja. The court held that the punishment was excessive and a violation of her rights.
Despite the ruling, her attempts to resume were initially rebuffed by the Senate leadership, prolonging her absence until Tuesday’s development. It remains unclear if her full privileges, including participation in plenary, have been fully restored ahead of the Senate’s return from recess.
Meanwhile, the Senate leadership has shifted its resumption of plenary sittings from September 23 to October 7. The postponement, conveyed in a memo signed by Chinedu Akubueze, Chief of Staff to the Senate President, extended the chamber’s recess by two weeks. Sources suggested the delay was intended to allow lawmakers to fully observe Independence Day celebrations on October 1.
The Senate adjourned on July 24 for its annual recess, a move Akpabio defended as “chamber reciprocity” with the House of Representatives. With the latest adjustment, key debates and oversight functions remain stalled, heightening concerns over legislative productivity.
