The Nigerian Senate has come under fire from Sam Amadi, the director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, for rejecting Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s request to rejoin the Senate from Kogi Central.
In response to inquiries during a Wednesday interview on Arise Television, Amadi reportedly called the Senate’s move an abuse of senatorial privileges.
He asserts that the National Assembly Clerk cannot approve a member’s continuous suspension because she is not a member of parliament.
He bemoaned the fact that National Assembly members create regulations but disregard them.
This is an example of overreach, he said. The senators themselves are abusing their privileges.
The National Assembly can suspend a member, but it must be within the parameters of that House’s operations.
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It is completely incorrect for the parliamentary procedure to wait for a court decision. The parliament was self-reliant and immune. The truth is that judicial actions do not halt legislative action.
Former Nigerian Education Minister Obiageli Ezekwesili has urged the Senate to permit embattled Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to return to her position.
“The suspension threatens constitutional governance and the rule of law,” Ezekwesili stated in a sharply worded message to the Nigerian Senate, judiciary, and citizens.
Allowing the lawmaker’s suspension to continue, she contended, runs the risk of undermining public trust in democratic institutions.
The Senate was cautioned by Ezekwesili to uphold constitutional principles and make sure that the senators’ mandates were promptly restored.
