A Federal ederal High Court in Abuja has ruled that the Nigerian Senate exceeded its constitutional authority by suspending Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months. The court, in its judgment delivered on Friday, declared the suspension unlawful and ordered her immediate reinstatement to the Red Chamber.
Justice Binta Nyako, who presided over the case, criticized the Senate’s action, describing the six-month suspension as “excessive” and lacking any clear legal justification. The judgment reaffirms the limits of parliamentary disciplinary powers under Nigerian law.
According to the court, both Chapter 8 of the Senate Standing Orders and Section 14 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, which the upper chamber relied upon, do not stipulate a maximum suspension period. As such, they were deemed overreaching in this case.
The judge pointed out that since the National Assembly is only required to sit for 181 days in a legislative year, suspending a lawmaker for roughly that same length of time effectively silences the voice of an entire constituency—a move she described as unconstitutional.
“While the Senate has the authority to discipline its members, such sanctions must not go so far as to deny constituents their right to representation,” Nyako ruled.
However, the court sided with Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on a separate issue, stating that his refusal to allow Akpoti-Uduaghan to speak during a plenary—on the grounds that she was not seated in her designated chair—did not amount to a violation of her rights.
Nyako also dismissed Akpabio’s argument that the judiciary had no business interfering in what he called an “internal affair” of the legislature, stating that fundamental rights and representation are matters squarely within the court’s purview.
In a surprising turn, the court imposed a hefty monetary penalty on Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for violating an earlier court order that prohibited both parties from making public comments on the pending case. The fine, which amounts to several millions of naira, was issued as a sanction for contempt of court.
