The Senate has said it cannot act on the court order directing the reinstatement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan until it receives and reviews the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment.
Senator Yemi Adaramodu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday, July 13, in Abuja.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended on March 6 for six months after clashing with the Senate leadership over a change in her seat.
Her suspension followed a recommendation by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, chaired by Senator Neda Imasuen.
Following the suspension, the senator lost her salary, security detail, and access to the National Assembly complex.
She then took the matter to the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Justice Binta Nyako ruled in her favour and ordered her reinstatement. However, the court also found her in contempt and fined her ₦5 million.
According to Adaramodu, the Senate is aware of the judgment but will not act until it officially receives the CTC.
“The Senate had applied for the CTC since Monday. We expect to get the document, and once we get it, we are going to comply with the content of the court order,” he said.
“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.”
Adaramodu expressed concern over public criticism of the Senate’s handling of the matter, blaming it on a lack of understanding of how the legislature functions.
“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,” he said.
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“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.”
He said the court had also acknowledged the Senate’s constitutional authority to make and enforce its rules.
“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,” Adaramodu said.
“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.”
He criticised the continued misrepresentation of the issue despite the court’s position.
“Possibly, what they were expecting was that anybody can disobey; anybody can break any rule and that the Senate must not take any stand,” he said.
Adaramodu also pointed out that the Senate has the discretion to determine the length of a member’s suspension if not specified in its Standing Orders.
“Whoever that is not a legislator cannot understand how the legislature works,” he added.
On the specifics of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension, he clarified that the 180-day sanction includes both parliamentary and non-parliamentary days.
“What the Senate rules say is that you should observe, adhere to and fulfil the 180 parliamentary days,” Adaramodu said.