As Defiant Akpoti-Uduaghan Weathers Storm, Returns to Senate

Sunday Aborisade, in this piece, examines the six-month suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s and her determination to continue to fight injustice as she resumed in her office at the National Assembly on Tuesday.

After six tumultuous months in legislative political exile, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan returned to the Senate on Tuesday with her voice louder, resolve firmer, and her stance on injustice unshaken.

Her office door, Suite 2.05 in the Senate wing, was unsealed at exactly 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, marking a symbolic end to what many Nigerians have described as an abuse of legislative power and a glaring example of institutional retaliation against a rising political voice.

Her first words to the press upon resumption were as defiant as they were declarative: “I owe no apology to anyone. If reopening my office was done with the expectation of an apology, then the battle has just begun.”

With that, Akpoti-Uduaghan signaled her intention not only to reclaim her seat but to confront head-on the machinery of suppression that sought to keep her silent.

The Kogi Central Senator, elected under the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was controversially suspended on March 6, 2025, following a recommendation by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions. Her alleged offense? “Unruly behavior” on the floor of the Senate, stemming from her protest over seat reallocation.

But behind the seemingly procedural action was a tangled web of politics, power plays, and perhaps most damningly, personal retribution.

Speaking candidly on Tuesday, the defiant Senator stripped away the Senate’s official narrative.

 “The document that led to my illegal suspension, what Senator Neda Imasuen read, was authored by the Office of the Senate President. The signatures attached to it were not voluntarily given. They were attendance sheet signatures. That’s legislative fraud,” she claimed.

Her accusation underscores a fundamental threat to Nigeria’s legislative integrity: the use of procedural tools to punish dissent and consolidate authority under the guise of order.

In July, 2025, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled her suspension excessive, unlawful, and unconstitutional, affirming that no legislative chamber has the power to suspend an elected representative without due process.

But despite the landmark ruling, the Senate leadership refused to budge. For weeks, Akpoti-Uduaghan was barred from her office and excluded from plenary sessions, as the Senate claimed it needed a “fresh resolution” or “further judicial direction.”

It took public outrage, legal pressure, and sustained advocacy from the media, the civil society and socio-cultural and political organisations for the Senate to quietly retreat.

With no formal announcement, her office was reopened. But plenary, originally scheduled to resume this week, was mysteriously postponed. A memo from the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, offered no clear reason, fueling suspicions that the leadership was buying time to manage the political fallout.

A National Assembly staffer, requesting anonymity, described the move as a “face-saving strategy”.

 “They can’t admit fault openly. But reopening her office without allowing her to speak on the floor would’ve invited fresh legal action and media scrutiny,” he claimed.

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension was not an isolated skirmish; it was part of a much broader war, one entangled in gender politics, power imbalances, and a toxic legislative culture.

In a petition submitted to the United Nations earlier this week, over 350 women’s rights organisations under the coalition Womanifesto accused the Nigerian Senate of retaliating against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan following her sexual harassment complaint against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Their complaint, filed with the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, highlighted institutional bias, abuse of authority, and an alarming disregard for due process.

The petition read in part, “This is not merely an isolated disciplinary matter. It represents a disturbing case of institutional retaliation against a woman legislator for reporting sexual harassment.”

While Senator Akpabio has denied the allegations, the optics remain damning: a female senator suspended shortly after raising a serious complaint, with the Ethics Committee dismissing her petition without a transparent investigation.

It is this context that transforms Akpoti-Uduaghan’s return into a moment of national reckoning, not just about legislative discipline but about the treatment of women in power and the limits of Nigerian democracy.

“Senator Akpabio is not more of a senator than I am. He’s not a governor of this place. He cannot treat me as if I am his domestic staff,” Akpoti-Uduaghan submitted out of frustration while speaking with journalists on Tuesday.

With those words, Natasha issued a direct challenge to the prevailing power dynamics in the 10th National Assembly.

Her statement wasn’t merely personal, it was systemic. It spoke to a deeper rot within the legislative institution, one where loyalty is rewarded, dissent is punished, and women are often expected to defer.

Yet, in a chamber often characterized by backdoor politics and coded silence, Akpoti-Uduaghan has chosen confrontation over compliance.

Her refusal to apologise, despite reports that the Senate Minority Leader may demand it when plenary resumes on October 7, has sparked public debate on whether elected representatives should ever be compelled to express contrition for defending their rights.

She said, “You don’t apologise for being a victim of injustice. Institutions must be put to the test. We must never cower in the face of illegality.”

Throughout her ordeal, Akpoti-Uduaghan did not stand alone. She was buoyed by a wave of support that transcended party lines and political affiliations.

From Atiku Abubakar and Bukola Saraki to Oby Ezekwesili, Aisha Yesufu, and Femi Falana, Nigeria’s leading political and civil voices rallied behind her.

The Nigerian Bar Association, Labour Party, African Democratic Congress, members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Afenifere, the Yoruba foremost economic and political organisation, among others, decried her suspension as an assault on democratic values.

Recognising the huge support behind her, Akpoti-Uduaghan said, “We survived everything, the unjust suspension, blackmail, road blockades, and attempts to silence us.”

Visibly emotional, she added, “I thank the people of Kogi Central, my beloved husband, and my children. We stood firm together.”

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s story is not just one of personal resilience but of collective resistance. It reflects the growing assertiveness of Nigerians, especially women, who are no longer contented with token representation or systemic bullying.

With the court ruling still fresh, and the Senator’s presence now impossible to ignore, political observers are watching closely to see how the Senate leadership navigates this delicate moment.

Would they double down on punitive procedures? Would they attempt to bury the controversy under bureaucratic red tape? Or would they, however reluctantly, submit to the rule of law?

There is growing speculation that her case could catalyze reform around internal legislative discipline.

The lack of clarity on how the Senate can suspend its members, the absence of transparent investigative processes, and the ambiguity of reinstatement procedures have all been exposed.

A political analyst said, “This is a test case for the limits of legislative immunity and the accountability of the National Assembly. What happens next will shape how future dissenters are treated.”

Even during suspension, Akpoti-Uduaghan insisted she continued serving the people of Kogi Central to the best of her ability.

She said, “No day went by without me looking for opportunities, bringing projects, infrastructure, or jobs to my people. I refused to let them suffer because of someone else’s power play.”

Her constituents, in turn, have remained fiercely loyal. In Kogi Central, her popularity has not only grown, with many viewing her suspension not as a stain, but as a badge of honour, proof that she fought for them and paid the price for it.

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s return to the Senate may mark the end of a suspension, but it could also signify the beginning of something larger: a reckoning within the National Assembly, a realignment of public expectations, and a reassertion of democratic accountability. She is, in many ways, a new kind of Nigerian politician, one who refuses to play by the unspoken rules of deference and silence.

Although her stance has earned her powerful enemies, it has also awakened a generation of Nigerians to the idea that courage in politics is not only possible, it’s necessary.

According to her, “The future is bright. Our democracy is evolving. We just can’t give up hope. Patriotically, we have a country to save.”

And with that, Suite 2.05, once a symbol of exclusion, now reopens as a space for resistance, resilience, and, perhaps, renewal.