Senate unseals Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s office, grants her access to NASS complex

The National Assembly has unsealed the office of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central), signalling a potential end to her months-long standoff with Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

On Tuesday, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly, backed by combined security personnel, reopened Akpoti-Uduaghan’s Office 205 in the Senate wing.

The move restores her access to the National Assembly premises and her office, paving the way for her possible return to plenary when lawmakers resume on October 7, 2025.

READ ALSO: Locked in a Standoff: Between Senator Natasha, Senate and Nigeria’s democracy

Sources said the decision was taken at a Senate leadership meeting on Monday. “A motion will be moved and, barring any changes, the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Abba Moro, PDP, Benue South, will move the motion for her to apologise, then seconded, and it will be taken,” the source said.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, who once chaired the Senate Committee on Diaspora and NGOs, was suspended for six months in March after protesting the reassignment of her seat by Akpabio on February 20.

The Senate accused her of contravening its Standing Orders.

The suspension, which lapsed in September, was challenged in court. In July, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ruled that the punishment was “excessive and unconstitutional,” ordering her recall.

The judge noted that lengthy suspensions left constituents without representation.

However, the Senate leadership insisted she must serve her full suspension. When she attempted to return, she was denied access.

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyer, Michael Jonathan Numa (SAN), pressed the matter further in a September 11 letter to the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Kamorudeen Ogunlana.

He warned that failure to recall her by September 15 would force legal action, including “committal for contempt, disciplinary action for breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, liability for instigating a breach of the peace with potential implications for national security, and any other remedies available to our client under the law.”

READ ALSO: Why Senator Natasha can’t resume duties despite suspension expiration – NASS

Responding, Ogunlana maintained he lacked the authority to act without Senate resolution. “My office serves strictly as an administrative arm, providing support to the Senate in accordance with their resolutions, Standing Orders and the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” he explained.

In a statement by his Director of Information, Bullah Audu Bi-Allah, Ogunlana stressed, “It must be emphasised that the determination of whether Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan can resume her legislative duties as of right without any further or fresh resolution of the Senate following the expiration of her six months suspension lies solely with the Senate and not with the office of the CNA.”

With her office reopened ahead of resumption, all eyes were now on the Senate’s plenary session in October to see whether the motion for her return would be taken and whether Akpoti-Uduaghan would be required to tender an apology before reclaiming her seat in the chamber.

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