Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has claimed that the Senate leadership is planning to suspend her following a heated dispute with Senate
Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has claimed that the Senate leadership is planning to suspend her following a heated dispute with Senate President Godswill Akpabio over seating arrangements in the chamber on Thursday, February 20.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused the Senate leadership of attempting to silence her.
Despite the alleged suspension threat, she reaffirmed her dedication to serving her constituents, insisting that no disciplinary action would deter her commitment to public service.
“I know that right now they are planning my suspension. If I’m suspended, fine. It will not stop me from doing my work wherever I can. I have a number of projects in line, and I will keep serving my people. I’ll keep being a voice, and I will keep being loved by the citizens,” Akpoti-Uduaghan said.
The proposed suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan comes just a day after a heated exchange with Senate President Godswill Akpabio over her seat relocation in the chamber.
The controversy erupted when Akpoti-Uduaghan’s seat was moved from the second-to-last row in the minority section to the last row without her consent.
Objecting to the change, she refused to vacate her original seat, an action deemed a breach of Senate rules.
In response, Senate Chief Whip Tahir Monguno cited Section 6(1) of the Standing Rules, which grants the Senate President authority to reassign seats when necessary.
He defended the decision, attributing it to recent defections of opposition senators to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Monguno also warned that failure to comply with seating arrangements could lead to disciplinary measures, including exclusion from Senate proceedings.
Backed by this ruling, Akpabio denied Akpoti-Uduaghan the chance to speak.
Despite this, she continued to protest, raising her hand in defiance.
In response, Akpabio muted her microphone and ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to remove her from the chamber.
Addressing the incident, Akpoti-Uduaghan defended her actions, arguing that she acted within Senate rules.
- She explained that she invoked Order 10, which allows a senator to refer a dispute to the ethics and privileges committee instead of facing immediate suspension.
“Yesterday, I did not speak out of order. He was grieving my suspension, and I had to invoke order 10, which is an order of privilege, which meant instead of suspending me, if you find me faulty in any area, send me to face the ethics and privileges committee. That’s what I did,” she said.
“I had to invoke that order, which was a right of every senator who felt their rights were being infringed upon. That’s what I did. If I had not done that, I would have been suspended on the floor.
She acknowledged the looming suspension but affirmed that it would not hinder her commitment to fulfilling her duties, even if ultimately enforced.
“So I had to say that to prevent the suspension at that point, but I’m aware that there are still plans underway to suspend me, and if I’m suspended, fine,” she added.
Akpoti-Uduaghan further claimed that she has been subjected to ongoing harassment in the Senate and intentionally excluded from important legislative activities.
“I have faced a lot of harassment, I have been going through a lot, a lot. And I have remained quiet because I didn’t want to be interpreted wrongly, I didn’t want any lawsuits against me. I just wanted to be given a chance to work,” she said.
She claimed that several of her privileges had been stripped away, including the opportunity to attend international engagements.
“A lot of my privileges have been denied. I have been pulled out from many international activities that I was part of. That is right after, you know, that whole nightclub incident that happened last year. Ever since then, I have been…. There was even a United Nations event I was supposed to attend, which I was invited and nominated for but my name was struck out that they will not promote me in any activity internationally,” Akpoti-Uduaghan stated.
The senator revealed that since last year, she has been covering the costs of her international trips out of pocket, stating that the Senate leadership has deliberately barred her from attending externally-sponsored events.
“So every event I have been going for since last year has been self-sponsored. Whenever I feel an international event is of importance to my constituents, to Nigerian women, to Nigeria, I buy my tickets myself and I fund my trips myself. I just don’t speak about it. So I have been going through a lot,” she said.
Addressing the seating controversy, she asserted that the relocation was an intentional move to marginalize and suppress her voice in the Senate.
“Yesterday was just that changing my seat was more of a chance of silencing me or alienating me from being seen. You know, sitting arrangement is very critical. The nearer you sit, it positions you closer before the camera and gives you another advantage to be called upon to contribute to the piece.
“Ordinarily, I’m already sitting at the very back. If you see me, my seat is, I’m actually sitting at the last seat just before the door. But then I was now moved suddenly without notice, without any information. My seat was moved to the far corner, a part where the cameras don’t capture. If you sit over there, the cameras can just, you won’t even be captured. Nobody will be able to accept. You will just easily be missing out. You can raise your hands up and nobody will call you,” she said.
Akpoti-Uduaghan questioned why she was singled out for the seat reassignment.
“So that is why I said, no, I don’t want to be, I don’t want to move to that seat. I wasn’t notified. You understand, this is not a classroom. You can’t just push me around. And there are other senators. There are 109 of us, why me? Why do I have to move there? Why me?” she said.
She also disclosed that she was recently removed from the Senate Committee on Local Content, stating that the decision was driven by bias.
She added that some lawmakers accused her of diverting resources intended for the Niger Delta to the North.
“Just two weeks ago, I was removed from a committee on local content. I was moved from there because some people perceived that I was using that office to divert resources from the Niger Delta to the north, and that was not it.
“We have the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline which is going to be completed by the second quarter of this year, and we need gas for that. And the wake of, you know, Nigeria is now positioning itself to be more productive. Industrialisation is picking up. So the factories up north, like other parts of Nigeria, will need greater electricity supply. And now we have CNG cars, cars vehicles being converted to CNG.
“There will be a number of CNG stations across the north and other parts of Nigeria. We need feed gas to service all of these spots. And it was even the president that assented to the executive order. So how does that……Why pick him on me? ” she added.
If Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is ultimately suspended, she will join a growing list of opposition lawmakers who have faced disciplinary actions in the past.
In March 2024, Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central was suspended for three months after claiming that over N3 trillion was illegally added to the 2024 budget.
Like Akpoti-Uduaghan, Ningi is also a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
However, he was reinstated on May 28, 2024, two months into his suspension.
It remains unclear what course of action the Senate will take next regarding the opposition senator from Kogi Central.
