…Senator skips plenary
The Senate has confirmed it will receive the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Federal High Court judgment regarding the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan by Tuesday evening.
According to sources within the Senate, the document detailing the court’s decision will be delivered to the Red Chamber, after which the next line of action will be determined.
“The Senate will receive the CTC latest on Tuesday evening. We will sit with it and then take the next line of action,” a Senate source told BusinessDay.
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Despite earlier vowing to return to plenary on Tuesday, the suspended Kogi lawmaker has since backtracked, saying she would await the official judgment before making any move.
Over the weekend, Akpoti-Uduaghan appeared in a viral video, surrounded by her supporters, declaring her intention to resume her legislative duties.
In the short clip, she said, “Thank you for your support. I’m glad we are victorious today. And we shall resume at the Senate on Tuesday.”
However, in a fresh interview on Monday night, she clarified that her earlier comments were made in the heat of the moment, following the court’s pronouncement that her suspension was “unconstitutional and excessive.”
She explained, “As a matter of fact, we expect to have the CTC today. But that also will determine our next step in the action. The statement I made that day of my resuming on Tuesday was right immediately after the pronouncement of the court that my suspension was unconstitutional and excessive, and that the people should not be deprived of representation.
“Even though the Senate has the power to punish members, they should not punish the constituents alongside.”
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“So based on that, when people came home to my house in Abuja right from the courts, I did mention that, OK, with this victory, we look forward to going to work on Tuesday.
“But that being said, like I said, we anticipate the judgment, the written judgment, the satisfactory copy. And that will determine the next step.”
