By OBIAGELI OBY EZEKWESILI

Six months have passed since the unconstitutional suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on March 6, 2025. The Senator, representing the people of Kogi Central Senatorial District, was suspended following her allegation of sexual harassment against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

These six months have witnessed an unprecedented assault on constitutional principles, judicial authority, and the very foundations of our democratic institutions. Rather than transparently investigate the allegation against the Senate President, an errant political class has used this opportunity to taunt citizens on how successfully they have captured the Nigerian state, perpetrating unlimited abuse with zero accountability or fear of consequences.

The Senate’s latest constitutional – the farcical letter dated September 4, 2025, signed by the Acting Senate Clerk and informing Senator @NatashaAkpoti that her suspension will continue indefinitely, represents nothing short of an existential threat to our constitutional democracy.

The Senate justifies this latest illegality with the preposterous claim that “the matter remains sub judice, and until the judicial process is concluded, no administrative action can be taken to facilitate your resumption.”

This reasoning is fundamentally flawed. The Senate cannot use pending litigation as justification to prolong an already unconstitutional suspension that has exceeded its own prescribed limits.

When the Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Binta Nyako, ruled that the six-month suspension was “excessive” and violated constitutional principles, the court affirmed what legal scholars had warned: the Senate’s action exceeded reasonable legislative discipline.

The court’s reasoning was unambiguous. Suspending a lawmaker for six months when the National Assembly sits for only 181 days annually, effectively denies constituents their right to representation for nearly an entire legislative session. This constitutes a fundamental violation of the democratic contract between elected representatives and their constituents.

The numbers tell a stark story of constitutional overreach: 181 days are the constitutionally mandated sitting days for the National Assembly. Six months and counting is the length of suspension imposed and now being prolonged and so the proportion of legislative participation denied to Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s Kogi Central constituents is over 100%. Legal experts have stated that Order 67(4) of the Senate Rules permits suspension for only 14 days maximum, making the six-month suspension a violation of the Senate’s own rules.

Worse, the Senate’s actions flagrantly disregard established judicial precedent. In 2017, the Federal High Court ruled that a six-month suspension was “illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional.” In 2018, the court ruled that the Senate lacked power to suspend beyond 14 days, emphasizing that suspension must be proportionate and not disenfranchise constituents.

Despite these clear legal precedents, the Senate imposed a seven-point punishment including office lockout, security withdrawal, salary suspension, and National Assembly access ban.

While Justice Binta Nyako delivered a constitutionally grounded ruling, judicial inconsistencies have enabled the Senate’s misbehavior. When the legislative arm can ignore judicial restraints with impunity, we witness the erosion of the separation of powers that forms our constitutional democracy’s bedrock.

The Chief Justice and National Judicial Council must address these concerning inconsistencies urgently. The fastest conclusion of the Akpoti-Uduaghan case is imperative for the courts to prove to Nigerians that they are not complicit in undermining the rule of law.

A Memo to the Nigerian Senate, Judiciary and Fellow Citizens:

The Senate’s Constitutional Overreach in the Case of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan

Democracy Dies when Laws Become Weapons and Lawmakers Become Serial Lawbreakers.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a covenant between government and governed. Article 6 establishes the judiciary as guardian of constitutional rights. Section 4 defines legislative power limits. Section 14 enshrines the rule of law as democracy’s foundation. These are binding obligations, not suggestions.

The highest lawmaking body of our Land is leading a misadventure to destroy the rule of law and our Democracy.

When the Senate became both accuser and judge in matters involving its leadership, accountability disappeared on this matter. Recall how the Senate Ethics Committee chairman, declared Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition “dead on arrival” before investigation, stating “Akpabio could not have committed sexual harassment.” That prejudgment revealed a system designed to protect power rather than pursue truth.

Some people dismiss this case as an “unserious personal quarrel” irrelevant to suffering Nigerians. Such a view terribly misunderstands the stakes. The Akpoti-Uduaghan versus Akpabio matter reveals how those entrusted with constitutional power act with impunity.

The Constitution grants citizens more power than those in office. However, when majority of our citizens remain unconcerned instead of demanding accountability collectively, constitutional breaches like Senate President Akpabio’s will continue to compound and endanger all.

This case transcends one Senator or constituency—it concerns our democracy’s soul and our collective responsibility to protect it. If a duly elected Senator can be silenced for exercising constitutional rights to petition and speak, what protection exists for ordinary citizens?

Democracy thrives when citizens refuse to be silent spectators to injustice. When we allow one citizen’s rights to be trampled, we enable abuse of our democratic freedoms. As Thomas Jefferson taught: the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

I had to write this memo despite my considered decision to stop wasting my effort on an evidently unreasonable political class. There is sufficient reason to believe that those in power have chosen self-destruction, and no counsel can stop them.

Yet I make one more attempt to caution against this latest democratic assault.

To the Senate and Senators:

Rescind your unconstitutional decision immediately. Recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan without delay. Cease your scandalous misappropriation of public office powers to break laws and breach our Constitution.

Demonstrate that Nigeria’s commitment to justice, constitutional governance, and rule of law is substantive, not rhetorical.

End this hubris now.

To Fellow Nigerians: Unify our voices and take a collective stand against this continuing constitutional assault. Six months of this crisis is already too many.

Every day without remedy chips away at democracy’s foundation. Every moment court orders are defied by those in power teaches our children that law is optional for the powerful.

Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s right to resume duties was explicitly affirmed in Justice Nyako’s ruling. She has served out the unconstitutional suspension. Our collective defense of her immediate return defends every Nigerian’s right against public power abuse.

The Senate President and 107 Senators are not more powerful than Nigeria’s people. A word is sufficient for the wise including those who despise wisdom.

•Obiageli Oby Ezekwesili is Founder, SPPG- School of Politics, Policy and Governance.

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