Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central) on Tuesday resumed legislative duties after six months of suspension, declaring she owes no apology to anyone.
Addressing journalists in her office shortly after the National Assembly management unsealed it, she said if the reopening was intended to compel her to apologise, “then the battle has just begun.”
“I feel happy and vindicated by having access to my office today after six months of illegal and unjust suspension,” Natasha said.
She dismissed reports that the Senate, at a meeting on Monday, allegedly directed the Minority Leader to persuade her to apologise on December 7.
“If the report is true, it means the battle has just begun, because I have no apology to tender to anybody for a wrong done to me—not by me—to anyone or to the Senate. You can’t apologise for an injustice,” she declared.
Natasha alleged that the suspension process was fraudulent, claiming the recommendation by the Ethics Committee chaired by Senator Neda Imasuen was drafted in the office of the Senate President. According to her, the attached signatures were not endorsements but merely attendance records.
“This is just one illegality upon another, and we must reject such things in Nigeria,” she said.
She also criticised Senate President Godswill Akpabio, insisting: “He is not more of a Senator than I am. He is not the governor of this place and cannot treat me as if I’m one of his servants or a domestic staff in his house.”
Natasha, however, expressed gratitude to Nigerians, political leaders, and civil society activists who stood by her during the suspension, recalling attempts to recall her from the Senate, road blockades in Kogi, and other challenges.
“I give Almighty God the glory and express my deepest appreciation to the good people of Kogi Central and Nigerians at large—my husband, my children, Mama Oby Ezekwesili, Aunty Aisha Yesufu, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Senator Bukola Saraki, Femi Falana, my beloved party PDP, the Labour Party, ADC, and of course, the media. I thank you all,” she said.
Her office, Room 2.05 in the Senate Wing, was officially unsealed at 10:00 a.m. by Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms, Mr. Alabi Adedeji.
Senator Natasha was suspended on March 6, 2025, after the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions found her guilty of unruly conduct during a protest on the Senate floor over seat reallocation ordered by Senate President Akpabio.
