Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled June 27 for judgment in the suit filed by suspended Kogi Central lawmaker, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, challenging her suspension from the Senate.
The case came up on Tuesday for hearing of all pending motions, including those concerning alleged contempt of court and the substantive suit.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan instituted the suit against the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Senate, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Senator Neda Imasuen, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Code of Conduct.
Tuesday’s proceedings were marked by legal arguments over procedural issues. Counsel to the third defendant, Kehinde Ogunwunniju, requested that all parties formally withdraw any processes they no longer wished to rely on, to prevent procedural confusion. However, Justice Nyako noted that such a request—essentially a housekeeping matter—ought to have been made earlier.
Regarding the contempt allegations, counsel for the plaintiff urged the court to first address the two pending contempt applications against the defendants. Justice Nyako, however, directed that since the parties had not harmonized their processes, all filed documents would be adopted, and the court would disregard any irrelevant ones.
The first defendant then adopted its processes challenging the court’s jurisdiction and opposing the grant of interlocutory injunctions, urging the court to dismiss the originating processes entirely.
Similarly, counsel to the second defendant, Chickoson Ojukwu, adopted all filed processes and urged the court to strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction. The third and fourth defendants also adopted their respective processes and asked the court to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims.
After hearing all parties, Justice Nyako stated that the court would first rule on the contempt applications and preliminary objections.
“If they succeed, the matter stops there; if not, we proceed,” she said before adjourning the case to June 27 for judgment.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended by the Senate on March 5, 2025—just one day after Justice Obiora Egwuatu had issued an order restraining the Senate from taking disciplinary action against her, pending the determination of her suit. The case was later reassigned to Justice Nyako after Justice Egwuatu recused himself following allegations of bias.
