Senate spokesperson and Chairman of the Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, has dismissed suggestions of a personal conflict between Senate President Godswill Akpabio and suspended Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Speaking during a television interview on Channels Television Tuesday evening, Adaramodu emphasized that the ongoing controversy involves the entire Senate institution rather than any individual dispute with the Senate President.
“There’s nothing subsisting between the Senate President and our colleague Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. It’s not about the Senate President, it’s about the Senate as a whole,” the spokesperson clarified.
Adaramodu stressed that the suspension rules applied to Akpoti-Uduaghan were established collectively by the Senate and not imposed by any single individual, reinforcing the institutional nature of the disciplinary action.
Addressing the continued denial of access to the National Assembly complex despite a Federal High Court ruling ordering her return, the Senate spokesperson pointed to what he described as the inappropriate manner of the suspended senator’s attempted comeback.
“If you are coming to the National Assembly with a multitude of a mob, a mob multitude… carrying placards, carrying flags, chanting war songs, there’s no way the National Assembly will allow you in,” Adaramodu explained, defending the security operatives’ decision to bar her entry.
The spokesperson emphasized the sanctity of the legislative chamber, stating that only senators are permitted strict access to what he termed “the hallowed chamber.” He indicated that the Senate maintains strict protocols to prevent what it considers potentially disruptive elements from entering the facility.
“The only place where the senators [can access] strictly is the chamber, which is the hallowed chamber. And we never allow anything that smokes like illegality to enter the chamber,” he declared.
Adaramodu made clear the Senate’s position on the suspended lawmaker’s status, stating definitively that despite the court ruling, the upper legislative chamber considers the suspension to remain in effect.
“As far as the Senate is concerned… the suspension subsists because, and she should not be allowed entrance or access to the National Assembly,” he concluded.
The statement comes amid ongoing tensions between the judiciary and legislature over the validity of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension, which was imposed following sexual harassment allegations she made against Senate President Akpabio.
