Following her six-month suspension by the Senate, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has initiated contempt proceedings against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the Clerk of the National Assembly, and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct, Senator Neda Imasuem.
In the Form 48 she filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the lawmaker representing Kogi Central argued that her suspension constituted a willful disobedience of a subsisting court order issued against the defendants on March 4.
Based on her application, the court, in a notice of disobedience of court order signed by its Registrar pursuant to Section 72 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act 2004, urged the defendants/contemnors to take notice of their willful disobedience of the order issued against them by Justice Obiora Egwuatu.
It warned that non-compliance with the order rendered Akpabio, Senator Imasuem, and the Clerk of the National Assembly liable for contempt of court, for which they could face imprisonment.
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According to the Form 48, a copy of which was sighted on Thursday, the defendants/contemnors “deliberately and contumaciously disregarded” a binding directive of the court and proceeded with actions in “flagrant defiance of the authority of the court.”
It was alleged that an enrolled order of the interim injunction issued by the court was duly served on the defendants on March 5.
Justice Egwuatu, acting on an ex-parte application filed by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan through her legal team, led by Mr. Michael Numa, SAN, had restrained the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct from proceeding with the purported investigation against the plaintiff/applicant for alleged misconduct related to events at the plenary session of the 2nd defendant on February 20, 2025, following a referral by the 2nd defendant on February 25, 2025, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.
The court further issued an order directing the 1st to 4th defendants to show cause as to why an interlocutory injunction should not be granted against them, restraining them from proceeding with the purported investigation against the plaintiff for alleged misconduct without affecting her privileges as stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999, as amended), the Senate Standing Order (2023), and the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act.
Additionally, the court declared that any action taken during the pendency of the suit “is null, void, and of no effect whatsoever.”
Furthermore, Justice Egwuatu granted Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan permission to serve the legal processes on the defendants through substituted means—either by handing them to the Clerk of the National Assembly, pasting them at the National Assembly premises, or publishing them in two national dailies.
In response to the suit, Senate President Akpabio has challenged the court’s jurisdiction to intervene in the affairs of the Senate.
The court adjourned further proceedings in the matter until March 25, 2025.
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