Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan
By Amah
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The controversy surrounding the suspension of the Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has deepened, with allegations that the signatures attached to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions’ report were not for the endorsement of the suspension but rather attendance records.
This led to confusion at a closed-door Senate meeting as some senators reportedly claimed their signatures were misrepresented to give the impression of unanimous support for the suspension.
Attendance or endorsement?
On 5 March, members of the Senate Committee on Ethics convened to investigate the seat rearrangement dispute between Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. On that day, senators who attended the committee’s sitting signed the attendance register, while others abstained.
Based on the Senate’s rules, all senators can attend committee meetings, whether or not they are members of such a committee. Also, all the senators who attend a committee’s meeting can sign the attendance register.
On 6 March, when the ethics committee chairman, Neda Imasuen, presented its report on the floor of the Senate, the attendance sheet’s signatures were included, creating the impression that all signatories endorsed the committee’s recommendations.
One of the key recommendations in the report was to prohibit Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan from identifying herself as a senator, both locally and internationally, for the six months she would be on suspension.
Some senators who signed the attendance register have now reportedly distanced themselves from the report with the argument that they were not allowed to review the final draft before it was presented on the floor of the Senate. A senator who attended the meeting where the matter was discussed but requested not to be named told PREMIUM TIMES that the proper process should have been for the committee members to examine and approve the report before its presentation. However, members were unaware of its content until it was publicly read on the Senate floor.
On 6 March, the Senate voted to suspend Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months following the ethics committee’s recommendations.
The decision was based on the ethics committee’s report which indicter her for alleged misconduct during a plenary session on 20 February and her refusal to adhere to the chamber’s sitting arrangement.
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