The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed 27 June to deliver judgement on Kogi central senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suit challenging her six-month suspension from the Senate.
The judge, Binta Nyako, on Tuesday, scheduled the case for judgement after all parties, through their respective lawyers, adopted their respective filings and made closing arguments.
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Announcing her plan after listening to the lawyers, the judge said her judgement would address other ancillary matters, which arose in the intervening period between the filing and the final hearing of the suit.
She said the judgment would decide on the counter-contempt charges that arose in the case and the preliminary objection filed by all the defendants, including Senate President Godswill Akpabio, challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
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“I want to believe that all processes are in.
“What I am going to do is to first look at the issues of contempt and take a decision on it.
“Then I will look at the notices of preliminary objection. If they succeed, that is the end of the case and if they don’t, I will look at the originating summons filed by the plaintiff,” the judge said, nailing down how she intended to go about the judgement on 27 June.
By the date scheduled for the judgement, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan would have served nearly four months of the six-month suspension from the Senate.
Ms Akpoti-Uduaghan filed the suit in March, initially, to halt an investigation by the Senate and its Committee on Ethics into alleged misconduct stemming from Senate proceedings where she had an altercation with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, over her assigned seat.
In the suit, she sued the Clerk of the Senate, the Senate, Senate President Akpabio and Neda Imasuem, who is the chairperson, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Code of Conduct.
Despite the suit and the initial restraining order issued by the former judge Obiora Egwuatu asking the Senate to stay action on its disciplinary proceedings, the Senate proceeded to suspend her on 6 March for six months.
Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan filed a contempt complaint against Mr Akpabio and other relevant Senate officers for disobeying the order halting the disciplinary action against her.
As the case progressed in court, the matter continued to stir up public commentaries in the media, prompting Mr Akpabio to apply to the court to bar parties to the suit from speaking to the press or sharing social media posts about the matter.
However, late last month, Mrs Akpoti-Natasha mocked Mr Akpabio with a satirical apology social posted on social media platforms.
In the aftermath of the post, Mr Akpabio’s legal team lodged a contempt complaint against Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan, accusing her of violating the court’s gag order banning interviews and such a social media post while the case lasted.
However, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan countered the application, urging the court to dismiss it.
The matter has attracted both local and international media attention, further intensified by Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegations of sexual harassment against Mr Akpabio. The Senate dismissed her sexual harassment petitions on two occasions, while Mr Akpabio vehemently denied the charge.
Hearing
The suspended senator was present in court on Tuesday to observe proceedings.
At the hearing, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyer, Michael Numan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), urged the judge to grant the senator’s prayers, including declaring that her suspension by the Senate as unlawful.
Mr Numan countered the contempt application filed against her by Mr Akpabio and the Senate, arguing that the post by his client was related to the sexual harassment allegation and not the suspension issue before the court.
On his part, the lawyer to the Clerk of the Senate, Charles Yoila, urged the court to decline jurisdiction on the matter, while adopting his processes.
The counsel for the Senate and Mr Akpabio, Joseph Daudu, a SAN, and Kehinde Ogunwumiju, another SAN, respectively, also took their turns to urge the judge to cite Akpoti-Uduaghan for contempt over her “satirical apology” post allegedly violating the court’s gag order.
Mr Ogunwumiju (Mr Akpabio’s lawyer) urged the court to uphold his client’s preliminary objection and dismiss Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s case for being an “academic exercise”.
A preliminary objection is a legal objection raised by a defendant at the beginning of a case, challenging the legal basis of the claim made by the plaintiff.
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Background
The Senate cited Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s refusal to adhere to its sitting arrangement, and alleged misconduct during a plenary session on 20 February as the primary reasons for her suspension.
Aside from suspending her, the upper legislative chamber withdrew her security aides, locked her Senate office, suspended her salary and allowances, and banned her from entering the National Assembly premises.
Reacting in a statement, the embattled senator said she would never apologize.
She added she stood “firmly in the fight for justice”
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