Report just reaching us at Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper indicated that the Senate has thrown open, the office of the suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and allowed her free access to the premises of the National Assembly.
This has been seen as a positive move to end the six month long head-on-collision between the Senator who represents Kogi State Central Senatorial District and the Senate itself.
Report just reaching us today, September 23, said that the Sergeant at Arms of the National Assembly, along with combined personnel of security organisations unsealed office number 205 of the Senate wing, belonging to Senator Natasha.
It was learnt that the National Assembly now officially allows Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan access to her office and the National Assembly premises.
It was further learnt that the new development indicates the possibility of her resuming legislative duties for her Senatorial District.
A source hinted that the decision to unseal her office was arrived at during yesterday’s leadership meeting of the Senate, where a motion will be moved and barring any changes, the Minority Leader of the, Senator Abba Moro of the PDP, Benue South, will move the motion for her to apologise, then seconded, and it will be taken.
Senator Natasha, who was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Diaspora and NGOs, was in March this year, slammed with a six-month suspension by the Senate, which also barred her from participating in all activities of the 10th Senate over her alleged misconduct when she protested against the reassignment of her seat on February 20, 2025.
Natasha’s suspension ended in September 2025, but she has been unable to resume her duties due to ongoing legal issues and continued opposition from the Senate leadership.
She took her case to the courts to vacate the suspension, as she was not successful, and the Senate, on its part, spoke through its relevant officers, insisting that the matter had nothing to do with sexual harassment allegations, but everything to do with her contravention of the Senate Standing Orders as amended.
The Judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Binta Nyako in July, described the six-month suspension as excessive and unconstitutional, and thereafter suggested to the Senate to recall the embattled Senator, saying that suspending a Senator for such a long period would expose the constituents to non-representation.
Thereafter, she attempted to return to the Senate but was denied access, and the Senate stood its ground, insisting that she had to serve her full six month suspension.
Also the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamorudeen Ogunlana, wrote her, through the Acting Clerk to NASS, Yahaya Danzaria, notifying her that her six-month suspension subsists until the Court of Appeal delivers judgment in the suit she instituted against the Senate.
On September 11, Counsel to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, Michael Jonathan Numa (SAN), wrote to the Clerk to the National Assembly, CNA, Kamorudeen Ogunlana, asking him to recall the Senator so that she could resume her legislative duties.
According to Numa in the letter, the CNA should note that failure to comply by Monday, 15th September 2025, will leave them with no alternative but “to initiate proceedings against you personally and in your official capacity. Such proceedings will include, but are not limited to, committal for contempt, disciplinary action for breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, liability for instigating a breach of the peace with potential implications for national security, and any other remedies available to our client under the law.”
Responding to the letter from her lawyer, the CNA, Ogunlana, urged the public to remain patient and allow the appropriate institutions, including the Senate and the courts, to discharge their constitutional responsibilities in respect of the resumption of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
According to him, he does not possess the authority to review, reverse or interpret Senate decisions against the backdrop that his office serves strictly as an administrative arm, providing support to the Senate in accordance with their resolutions, Standing Orders and the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
In a statement signed by the Director, Information for the Clerk to the National Assembly, Bullah Audu Bi-Allah, he said that Ogunlana is therefore not in a position to facilitate her resumption at this time, just as he noted that It must be emphasized that the determination of whether Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan can resume her legislative duties as of right without any further or fresh resolution of the Senate following the expiration of her six months suspension lies solely with the Senate and not with the office of the CNA.
