Akpabio takes jab at Natasha Akpoti, says ‘court-declared’ senators ignorant of senate rules

Senate President Godswill Akpabio says lawmakers who reclaimed their electoral mandate through the courts are part of the problem of the upper legislative chamber.

Akpabio spoke on Tuesday while announcing that Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, lawmaker representing Kogi central, would face disciplinary action over her outburst regarding seat reallocation.

The lawmaker had on February 20 disrupted plenary by rejecting her assigned seat, defying Akpabio’s order and repeatedly raising a point of order despite being overruled.

During plenary on February 25, Akpabio described the altercation as stemming from a lack of understanding of senate guidelines and directed the national assembly management to organise periodic orientation for senators.

“I think part of the problem is when people come from court… court-declared senators; they missed the orientation,” the senate president said.

“The management of the national assembly is hereby ordered to organise periodic orientation, particularly for senators who are midstreamers, who came midstream and did not start when their colleagues started.

“I remember that this particular senator (Natasha), on the day she was sworn in, raised her hand to speak. I was scared, but I had to recognise her, because I was saying we just gave her the rule book.

“Part of what we give to you when you are sworn in is the standing order of the senate. I asked if she opened the rule book to know what to say, but she made a contribution on that day. I think two days later she brought a motion.

“There is nothing wrong in being vibrant, but there is a lot wrong when you don’t know anything about the procedure.”

LAWSUIT

Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a N100 billion defamation suit against Akpabio.

In the suit filed at the federal capital territory (FCT) high court, Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that Akpabio and Mfon Patrick, his legislative aide, made defamatory comments against her.

The Kogi lawmaker asked the court to compel the respondents to withdraw the defamatory comments and apologise to her in a national newspaper.

In February 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Abubakar Sadiku-Ohere of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the Kogi central senatorial district election.

Not satisfied with the outcome of the polls, Akpoti-Uduaghan filed a petition seeking to nullify the election over “irregularities”.

The national assembly petitions tribunal upheld the prayers of the PDP candidate and nullified Sadiku-Ohere’s election.

The court of appeal in Abuja later affirmed Akpoti-Uduaghan as winner of the election.

In November 2023, she was sworn in as the senator representing Kogi central.