… Rules out apology

… Court adjourns defamation case against her to Oct 27

ABUJA – Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party, representing Kogi Central, on Tuesday stormed the National Assembly Complex after six months suspension, declaring she would not apologise to the Senate leadership as a condition for resumption.

Her office was formally unsealed by the Sergeant-at-Arms, paving the way for her return to plenary on October 7, even as she faces a criminal defamation case in an Abuja court.

Her office, Room 2.05, had been locked since March 6 when she was suspended over alleged misconduct and breach of standing rules after protesting her reassigned seating position. Critics described the suspension as political, and the courts ruled it excessive.

On September 23, Deputy Director, Sergeant-at-Arms, Mr. Alabi Adedeji, declared in a video: “I hereby unseal the office of Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.” National Assembly cleaners immediately began fumigation and cleaning ahead of her return.

The Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Kamoru Ogunlana, in a statement announced that plenary resumption earlier fixed for September 23 had been shifted to October 7, while committee activities would continue.

Walking back into her office for the first time since March, Akpoti-Uduaghan told reporters she would not bow to any demand for contrition.

“I read in the papers that the minority leader, Senator Abba Moro, upon resumption on October 7 would present a motion calling on me to apologise. But you can’t apologise for an injustice. If they are expecting me to apologise, I am sorry, I don’t have those words,” she said.

She insisted her suspension remained a legal matter still before the courts.

“It will amount to injustice if I am not allowed to resume my legislative duties because the matter is still pending,” she warned, adding that the attempt to extract an apology was “one illegality upon the other” that Nigerians must reject.

The senator urged citizens not to lose hope in democracy despite what she described as an appalling culture of impunity in the legislature.

“Let Nigerians know that the future is bright; we just can’t give up our hope. Our democracy is evolving and I trust that every day leading into 2027, we will be able to put out actions that will be worthwhile because patriotically, we have a country to save,” she said.

Even as she regained her office, Akpoti-Uduaghan continued her legal fight.

Justice Chizoba Oji of the FCT High Court on Tuesday adjourned to October 27 hearing in her preliminary objection to a three-count charge filed against her by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, accusing her of making harmful imputations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi governor Yahaya Bello during a television interview.

She had been arraigned on May 15, 2025, pleaded not guilty, and was admitted to bail in the sum of N50 million with one surety owning landed property within the jurisdiction.

Her counsel, Ehighioge West-Idahosa, SAN, told the court that the AGF abused prosecutorial powers by filing the same case at both the Federal High Court and the FCT High Court.

He asked the judge to strike out the charges.

Prosecution counsel, David Kaswe, insisted he was ready to open trial and had brought his first witness, SP Abdulhafeez Garba, to court. He claimed not to have been properly served with the senator’s motion.

Justice Oji, after examining the case file, confirmed that the Attorney-General’s office had indeed been served yet failed to respond. Kaswe admitted the AGF had been out of the country and had not made the motion available to him.

The judge ruled that, in the interest of fair hearing, the matter should be adjourned to October 27 for the motion and the AGF’s response to be taken together.