The Senate has stated that it will not reinstate Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan until it has considered the contents of the certified true copy of the court judgment in the case involving her and Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, stated this in an interview on Sunday in Abuja.

The Senate had, on March 6, suspended Ms Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months amid the sexual harassment allegation she had made against Akpabio.

The suspension followed a recommendation from the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions, as presented by its chairman, Neda Imasuen (APC-Edo South).

As part of the suspension, the senator’s salary and security details were withdrawn, while she was barred from accessing the National Assembly premises.

She later took the matter to the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, where the presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, ordered the Senate to recall her from suspension last week.

The court, however, sanctioned Ms Akpoti-Uduaghan for contempt and ordered her to pay a fine of N5 million.

Mr Adaramodu, the Senate spokesperson, stated that the upper legislative chamber had applied for the CTC, emphasizing that the Senate could not take a position on the matter until the document was received and studied.

“The Senate had applied for the CTC since Monday. We expect to get the document, and once we get it, we are going to comply with the content of the court order. But first, the Senate will sit and consider the contents of the CTC and when we look at the contents, then we shall take a position,’’ he said.

Mr Adaramodu noted with concern that some Nigerians were fanning the Akpoti-Uduaghan matter due to their limited understanding of the Senate’s workings. He said that those acting in that direction were merely wishing the National Assembly to be a lawless institution.

“If there is no rule on seating, it means that early in the morning, I can wake up and say I want to sit where the president of the senate is sitting because he is my colleague, and that will turn the whole place into chaos and pandemonium. It was on the strength of the aforesaid that the court recently averred in the case between Natasha and Akpabio that there are rules and that the Senate is constitutionally empowered to make rules that will guide its activities.

“It was for this that we have Standing Orders. And enforcing the orders means that anybody who contravenes it, the aggregated whole chamber of the senate can reprimand such a person,’’ he said.

According to him, if it is established that the Senate can reprimand an offending senator and that it is not in their books how many days or hours such a senator can be suspended, then it is at the discretion of the Senate to apportion a period for the suspension of a member being reprimanded.

The senator, representing Ekiti South senatorial district, explained that the 180-day suspension handed down to Akpoti-Uduaghan included non-parliamentary days.

“What the Senate rules say is that you should observe, adhere to, and fulfill the 180 parliamentary days,’’ he said.

(NAN)