The Senate has said that it cannot reinstate Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan until it considers the contents of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the court judgement in the case involving her and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs,
Sen. Yemi Adaramodu, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
NAN reports that the Senate had, on March 6, suspended
Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months amid the sexual harassment allegation she had
made against Akpabio.
The suspension came after a recommendation from the Senate
Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, as presented by the
Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Neda Imasuen (APC-Edo South).
As part of the suspension, the senator’s salary and security
details were withdrawn, while she was barred from accessing the National
Assembly premises.
She 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.
The court, however, sanctioned Akpoti-Uduaghan for contempt
and ordered her to pay a N5 million fine.
Adaramodu, who is the Senate spokesperson, said that the
upper legislative chamber had applied for the CTC, stressing that until the
document was received and studied, the Senate could not take a position on the
matter.
“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,’’ he
said.
Adaramodu noted with concern that some Nigerians were
fanning the Akpoti-Uduaghan matter out of their low level of understanding of
the workings of the Senate.
He said that those acting in that direction were merely
wishing the National Assembly to be a lawless institution.
“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,’’ he said.
He also expressed regret that, despite the court ruling,
some people continued to say something else.
“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.
According to him, if it is established that the Senate can
reprimand an offending senator and that it is not in their books how many days
or hours such a senator can be criticised, then it is at the discretion of the
Senate to apportion a period for the suspension of a member being reprimanded.
“Whoever that is not a legislator cannot understand how the
legislature works,” he said.
The senator, representing Ekiti South Senatorial District,
explained that the 180-day suspension handed down to Akpoti-Uduaghan included
non-parliamentary days.
“What the senate rules say is that you should observe,
adhere to and fulfil the 180 parliamentary days,’’ he said.
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