Following the expiration of the six-month suspension of the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, from the Senate, the embattled lawmaker on Tuesday, September 23, resumed legislative duties.
New Telegraph had earlier reported that her return followed the unsealing of her office, located in Suite 2.05 of the Senate Wing, by the Deputy Director of the National Assembly, Sergeant-at-Arms, Alabi Adedeji.
Upon resumption, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who has been at the centre of a protracted standoff with the Senate leadership, maintained her defiance, stressing that she had “No apology to tender.”
She said, “In retrospect, it is actually amazing how much we have had to pay in the past six months, from the unjust suspension to the recall. But we survived the recall, blackmail, and that crazy lady on Facebook.
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“It is amazing what we had to pass through, and I give God Almighty the glory and my deepest appreciation to the people of Kogi Central and Nigerians at large.
“To my husband, I love you dearly. I pray all men support their wives in the same manner you have supported me.
“In everything, sometimes it is good to push the institution to the test. We can’t cower down in the face of injustice. No one is more Nigerian than us.
“Senator Akpabio is not more of a senator than I am. He is not the governor of this place, yet he treated me as if I were a servant or domestic staff in his house.
“It is so unfortunate that we will have a National Assembly being run by such a dictator. It is totally unacceptable.”
New Telegraph recalls that the embattled lawmaker was handed a six-month suspension in March, barring her from all activities of the 10th Senate over alleged misconduct during her protest against the reassignment of her seat by Senate President Godswill Akpabio on February 20.
Although her suspension formally lapsed in September, she was unable to return due to legal tussles and resistance from Senate leadership. On July 4, however, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that the suspension was excessive and unconstitutional.
