Senate President Godswill Akpabio has fired back at suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, calling her recent attempt to return to the Senate “misleading” and purely for media attention. This comes days after Natasha stormed the National Assembly on July 22, claiming a court had ordered her reinstatement.
But in a sharp response delivered through his media strategist, Kenny Okolugbo, Akpabio made it clear: there was no official court order directing the Senate to recall or reinstate her. According to him, Natasha didn’t even inform the Senate leadership or the Clerk of the National Assembly about her return.
“She never sent any formal notice,” Okolugbo told Vanguard. “The judgment by Justice Binta Nyako did not compel the Senate to take any specific action. Her lawyer’s letter was acknowledged and replied to by the Clerk. That should’ve been enough. But instead, she went ahead with media drama, trying to make it look like she had a mandate.”
What shocked many even more was how Natasha arrived at the gates of the National Assembly—surrounded by supporters described by Okolugbo as “street urchins and political hangers-on.” According to him, it was all a setup to stir public sympathy and cast the Senate in a bad light.
And here’s the clincher: Okolugbo referenced Ground 23 of Natasha’s own legal appeal, which, by his account, admitted that the trial judge did not explicitly nullify her suspension. While the court may have described the suspension as excessive and unconstitutional, it stopped short of ordering her reinstatement.
In his words, “The judge did not make a clear pronouncement to set aside the suspension. That’s the part Natasha is deliberately ignoring.”
So far, Natasha has not issued a direct rebuttal to Akpabio’s latest statements. But as this controversy continues to brew, it’s clear the tension between her and Senate leadership isn’t dying down anytime soon—and the courts may still have the final say.
