- Send Natasha to disciplinary panel over seating dispute
- Natasha sues Akpabio for defamation, demands N1.3bn damages
Senators on Tuesday passed a vote of confidence in the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, over his leadership style.
The red chamber also reviewed the issue that led to a rowdy session last week and asked its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition chaired by Senator Neda Imasuen, to investigate the matter.
The resolutions of the upper chamber followed a point of order, bordering on privileges moved by the Senate spokesperson, Adeyemi Adaramodu, representing Ekiti South Senatorial District in the National Assembly.
Adaramodu had, in his point of order, drawn the attention of his colleagues to the action of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Thursday, last week, when she caused a rowdy session during plenary while protesting the sudden change of her seat without her knowledge.
He noted that Akpoti-Uduaghan erred by raising her voice while protesting the rearrangement of seats in the red chamber thereby creating a wrong impression which the mainstream and social media commentators had been feasting upon since then.
The Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, in his contribution, moved a motion that his colleagues should support the actions of the Senate President since the issues started last week, which was promptly done.
He also moved another motion for the matter to be referred to the Committee on Ethics, and Privileges which was massively voted for.
The committee, chaired by Senator Neda Imasuen, has been given two weeks to investigate the matter and submit its findings.
“The Senate is not a platform for content creation but a place for lawmaking and oversight functions urging the leadership to enforce discipline.
“Where there is sin, there must be a penalty,” Adaramodu said.
Backing Adaramodu’s stance, Bamidele reaffirmed the chamber’s commitment to maintaining order and integrity.
“Everyone has an opinion on this issue, but we are bound by our rules. Under our watch, we will not allow this institution to be discredited beyond what we inherited. Integrity is non-negotiable,” Bamidele stated.
He dismissed claims that the dispute stemmed from gender bias, pointing out that other senior senators had accepted seat changes without protest.
In his ruling, Akpabio directed the Ethics Committee to conduct a thorough review of the incident and report back to the chamber.
Akpabio emphasised that while senators are permitted to sit anywhere, they must make contributions from their designated seats.
He suggested that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s unfamiliarity with Senate procedures may have contributed to the altercation.
“The first day she was sworn in, she stood up to contribute, and I was worried if she had even read the rule book. There is nothing wrong with being vibrant, but everything wrong with disobeying procedure,” Akpabio said.
Citing Order 66(2) and Section 55 of the Senate rules, he reminded lawmakers of the need for decorum, noting that actions such as chewing gum, drinking water, or being disruptive during sittings are prohibited.
Natasha sues Akpabio for defamation, demands N1.3bn damages
Meanwhile, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a lawsuit against the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for alleged defamation.
In a suit filed before the Federal Capital Territory High Court on February 25, 2025, the President of the Senate, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Senior Legislative Aide to the Senate President, Mfon Patrick, were listed as the second and third defendants.
In the suit, marked CV/737/25, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer, Victor Giwa, alleged that defamatory statements were made by the Senate President and published by his aide on Facebook.
According to him, the post, titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?” included a statement suggesting that Akpoti-Uduaghan believed being a lawmaker was only about “pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers.”
Giwa argued that the statement was defamatory, provocative, and disparaging, lowering his client’s dignity in the eyes of her colleagues and the public.
He stated, “A DECLARATION that the words, ‘It is bottled anger by the Kogi lawmaker, who knows nothing about legislative rules. She thinks being a lawmaker is all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers,’ used and written by the third defendant at the prompting of the first and second defendants, is defamatory and intended to cause public opprobrium and disaffection toward the claimant.”
She also urged the court to restrain the defendants and their associates from making further defamatory statements against her on any platform.
“AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the defendants, whether acting by themselves or through their agents, privies, assigns, or associates, from further publishing or causing to be published the said defamatory words or any similar publications about the claimant on social media or in any other manner capable of defaming her,” she stated.
Furthermore, Akpoti-Uduaghan asked the court to order the defendants to pay her N100 billion in general damages and N300 million as litigation costs.
“An order for the payment of the sum of N100, 000,000,000 as general damages. An order for the payment of the sum of N300, 000,000 as the cost of action,” she prayed.
