“My Suspension Was Fraudulent” – Senator Natasha Reacts After Failed Attempt To Resume Duties, Seek Interpretation Of Judgement

 

The suspended senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has again called out the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, claiming that her suspension is fraudulent.

 

She spoke on Tuesday after her failed attempt to resume legislative duties today.

 

Natasha added that she will approach the appellate court for interpretation of the legal impasse.

 

Akpoti-Uduaghan made this known while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday after being refused entrance into the National Assembly Complex by security personnel.

 

Recall that the suspended senator had on Tuesday defied a heavy security blockade and arrived at the National Assembly Complex on foot from the MOPOL gate, accompanied by a crowd of supporters.

 

The lawmaker, whose suspension by the senate is being contested in court, parked her vehicle outside the National Assembly premises and walked through the main MOPOL gate, in company of some activists, including Aisha Yesufu.

 

Speaking with newsmen, Akpoti-Uduaghan, who defied the rain, insisted that her suspension was not only unjust but also procedurally flawed.

“Even the suspension, ab initio, was fraudulent. The document that recommended my suspension wasn’t even attested to by the committee members. It was just a photocopy of an attendance sheet passed off as their signatures.

“There is no reason whatsoever, contrary to the publications that I read yesterday (Monday), that I should not resume today, because the senate has appealed my suspension judgment.

“That is wrong. What I appealed is the contempt and that is separate. The judgment came in two parts.

“One was to address the contempt which is based on the satirical apology letter which I made on Facebook which the judge thought it wise in her own stride that amounts to contempt.

“But I’m saying clearly that, that doesn’t amount to contempt of court because what was before Justice Binta Nyako was not a matter of sexual harassment; it was a matter of suspension,” she said.

 

“If we decide to turn our backs and go home, we are not ignorant of the fact that the National Assembly is most likely going to go into recess tomorrow (Wednesday) for two months.

“And they will resume pretty much in the last week of September and, like you rightly said, that means I would have pretty much served the six-month suspension.

“I’m saying that because as of now, I’m no longer suspended. And there’s something very important I would like to say, that even the suspension, ab initio, was fraudulent,” she said.