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By, John Okokobioko
THE Deputy director of Sergent At Arms at the National Assembly, Alabi Adedeji, unseals the office of Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan, Tuesday 23rd September 2025.
YOUNEWS learnt, extracting apologies from her is the main reason, while obedience to Court order is as he secondary reason .
The office was sealed on the 6th of March 2025 after being suspended by the senate for six months.
YOUNEWS learnt that the move to open her office prior to resumption is to enable Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to be in the hallowed chamber upon resumption on 7th October, 2025.
According to a source, the decision 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 Senate, Senator Abba Moro, PDP, Benue South, will move the motion for her to apologise, then seconded, and it will be taken.
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’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.
Perhaps because of the extended recess, we will see how it plays out as the Senate resumes plenary sessions.
Following her suspension, 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 allegations, but everything to do with Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s contravention of the Senate Standing Orders as amended.
Binta Nyako, Judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in July, described the six-month suspension as excessive and unconstitutional, and thereafter ordered the Senate to recall the embattled Senator, citing that suspending a Senator for such a long period would expose constituents to non-representation during that time.
Thereafter, she attempted to return to the Senate but was denied access, and the Senate stood its ground, insisting that she serve her full term.
Also, recall that the Clerk to the National Assembly, CNA, Kamorudeen Ogunlana, wrote her through the Acting Clerk to NASS, Yahaya Danzaria, who notified 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, 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.
