The embattled senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has returned to the National Assembly after months of enforced absence, accusing Senate President Godswill Akpabio of running the chamber like a private fiefdom.
Her office, sealed since March following her suspension, was formally reopened on Tuesday by the Deputy Director of the National Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms, Alabi Adedeji. “The office is hereby unsealed,” Adedeji declared in a video posted online.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was suspended in March for six months over alleged misconduct, struck a defiant tone as she resumed duties. “I have no apology to tender,” she told reporters. “We can’t cower in the face of injustice. Senator Akpabio is not the governor of this place, yet he treated me as if I were a servant in his house. It is so unfortunate that we have a National Assembly being run by such a dictator.”
Although her suspension formally lapsed in September, she remained locked out of her office amid legal wrangling. In July, the Federal High Court in Abuja declared her suspension excessive and unconstitutional, but the Senate leadership continued to resist her return.
It remains unclear whether her reinstatement extends to full participation in plenary when sittings resume. Lawmakers had been expected back on 23 September, but the Senate leadership has once again pushed the date forward, this time to 7 October.
An internal memo signed by the Senate President’s chief of staff, Chinedu Akubueze, cited no reason for the delay, though insiders suggested it was to allow members to fully mark Nigeria’s Independence Day on 1 October. The extension prolongs the Senate’s recess, which began on 24 July, and stalls debates on pending motions, oversight hearings and executive appointments.
For Akpoti-Uduaghan, the return marks the latest chapter in a bitter clash with the Senate leadership. “No one is more Nigerian than us,” she said. “It is amazing what we had to pass through, but we survived the recall, the blackmail and the intimidation.”
