The controversy surrounding the suspension of Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has intensified, with new allegations suggesting that the signatures attached to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions’ report were not meant to endorse the suspension but were simply attendance records.
This revelation caused confusion during a closed-door Senate meeting, where some senators claimed their signatures had been misused to create the false impression of unanimous support for the suspension.
Attendance or Endorsement?
On March 5, members of the Senate Committee on Ethics met to investigate the dispute between Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio regarding a seating arrangement issue. During the meeting, senators who attended signed the attendance register, while others chose to abstain.
Under Senate rules, all senators, regardless of committee membership, are allowed to attend committee meetings and sign the attendance register. However, when the report from the ethics committee was presented in the Senate on March 6, the signatures from the attendance sheet were included, creating the misleading impression that all signatories had endorsed the committee’s recommendations.
One of the key recommendations in the report was to bar Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan from identifying as a senator, both domestically and internationally, for the duration of her six-month suspension.
Several senators who signed the attendance register have since distanced themselves from the report, arguing that they were not given an opportunity to review the final draft before it was presented on the Senate floor.
A senator who attended the meeting but wished to remain anonymous told PREMIUM TIMES that the proper procedure would have been for committee members to first review and approve the report before it was presented. However, committee members were unaware of its contents until it was publicly read in the Senate.
On March 6, the Senate voted to suspend Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, based on the ethics committee’s report, which accused her of misconduct during a plenary session on February 20 and her refusal to adhere to the chamber’s seating arrangement. Several penalties were imposed, including the withdrawal of her security detail and the closure of her office within the National Assembly.
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Additionally, she was instructed to return all Senate properties in her possession to the Clerk of the National Assembly and was prohibited from entering the National Assembly premises during her suspension. Her salary and allowances were also suspended for the duration of the penalty, and she was forbidden from representing herself as a senator, both locally and internationally.
However, the Senate did leave open the possibility of lifting the suspension early if Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan submits a written apology, which the Senate leadership may consider before the six-month period concludes.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan took her case to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), seeking international intervention regarding her suspension. She addressed delegates at an IPU meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where she also raised allegations of sexual harassment against Mr. Akpabio.
The Kogi senator described her suspension as unlawful, claiming it was a deliberate attempt to silence her for speaking out against alleged misconduct within the Nigerian upper legislative chamber.
Senators Push Back on Signature Use
Sources confirm that some of Imasuen’s colleagues on the committee expressed concern over the improper use of their signatures during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, which lasted for about two hours.
(Premium Times)
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