The Senate has announced that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uphuaghan cannot be restored until he checked the true certified copy (CTC) of the judicial judgment related to his case against the president of the Senate Godswill Akpabio.
Senator YEMI Adaramiodu, president of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, made this statement during an interview with the Nigeria news agency (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
According to Nan, the Senate suspended Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months on March 6 due to the accusations of sexual harassment against Akpabio. This suspension followed a recommendation from the Senate Ethics Committee, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, which was presented by its president, Senator Neda Imasuen (APC-Edo South).
As part of the suspension, the salary and security details of Akpoti-Uduaghan were revoked, and it was forbidden to access the facilities of the National Assembly.
Later he took the matter to a Federal Superior Court, the Abuja Division, where the President Judge Binta Nyako, ordered the Senate last week to withdraw it from the suspension.
The court, however, sanctioned Akpoti-Uduaghan for contempt and ordered him to pay a fine of N5 million.
Adamiodu, who is the Senate spokesman, said the Superior Legislative Chamber had requested the CTC, emphasizing that until the document was received and studied, the Senate could not take a position on the matter.
“The Senate had requested the CTC since Monday. We hope to receive the document, and upon receiving, we will comply with the content of the court order.
“But first, the Senate will sit and consider the content of the CTC, and when we look at the content, we will take a position,” he said.
Adamiodu pointed out with concern that some Nigerians were fanning the Akpoti-Uphuaghan issue of their low level of understanding of the operation of the Senate.
He said that those who acted in that direction simply wanted the National Assembly to be an institution without law.
“The Senate, by law, is empowered to make its rules that guide him. If we have no rules that guide us, we will become barbarians.
“If there is no rule in the seats, it means that early in the morning, I can wake up and say that I want to sit where the president of the Senate is sitting because he is my colleague, and that will turn the whole place into chaos and Pandemonium.
“It was about the force of the previous ones that the Court recently affirmed in the case between Natasha and Akpabio that there are rules and that the Senate is constitutionally empowered to make rules that will guide its activities.
“It was for this that we have permanent orders. And enforcing orders means that anyone who contravenes it, the total aggregate chamber of the Senate can rebuke that person,” he said.
He also regretted that, despite the court ruling, some people continued to say something else.
“Possibly, what they expected was that anyone can disobey; anyone can break any rule and that the Senate should not take any position,” he said.
According to him, if it is established that the Senate can reprimand an offensive senator and that it is not in his books how many days or hours said senator can be criticized, then it is at the discretion of the Senate to distribute a period for the suspension of a member who reprimands.
“Who is not a legislator cannot understand how the legislature works,” he said.
The senator, which represents the Senatorial District of Ekiti South, explained that the 180-day suspension transmitted to Akpoti-Uduaghan included non-parliamentary days.
“What the rules of the Senate say is that you must observe, adhere and comply with the 180 parliamentary days,” he said.