By Nwosa Hamilton
The Senate has revealed that it will not reinstate suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan until it reviews the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the court judgment relating to her case against the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
This was made known by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu.
Speaking during an interview with the press on Sunday in Abuja, Adaramodu, who is the Senate spokesperson, said that the upper legislative chamber has already applied for the CTC of the case, stressing that until the document was received and studied, the Senate is not in a position to take a stand on the matter.
He said: “The Senate had applied for the CTC since Monday. We expect to receive the document, and upon receipt, we will comply with the court order’s content.
“But first, the senate will sit and consider the contents of the CTC, and when we look at the contents, then we shall take a position.
“The Senate, by law, is empowered to make its rules that guide it. If we don’t have rules guiding us, we will become like barbarians.
“If there is no rule on seating, it means that early in the morning, I can wake up and say I want to sit where the president of the Senate is sitting because he is my colleague, and that will turn the whole place into chaos and pandemonium.
“It was on the strength of the aforesaid that the court recently averred in the case between Natasha and Akpabio that there are rules and that the Senate is constitutionally empowered to make rules that will guide its activities.
“It was for this that we have Standing Orders. And enforcing the orders means that anybody who contravenes it, the aggregated whole chamber of the Senate can reprimand such a person.”
The New Diplomat reports that the Senate had on March 6, suspended Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months amid allegations of sexual harassment she leveled against Akpabio.
The suspension came following recommendation by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, as presented by the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Neda Imasuen (APC-Edo South).
In response, Natasha later took the matter to a Federal High Court, Abuja Division, where the presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, last week ordered the Senate to recall her from suspension.
