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Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed contempt charges against Senate President Godswill Akpabio and others over her six-month suspension from the Senate.
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The suspension was despite a court order restraining the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct from proceeding with an investigation against her.
Akpoti-Uduaghan argues that her suspension constitutes wilful disobedience to the subsisting court order.
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, has filed contempt charges against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and others over her six-month suspension from the Senate without pay.
The contempt charge, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, also lists the Clerk of the National Assembly and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct, Senator Neda Imasuen, as defendants.
According to the Form 48 contempt charge, Akpoti-Uduaghan argued that her suspension constituted wilful disobedience to the subsisting court order issued on March 4, which restrained the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct from proceeding with an investigation against her.
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Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had issued an order directing the defendants to show cause why an interlocutory injunction should not be granted to restrain them from proceeding with the purported investigation against Akpoti-Uduaghan for alleged misconduct.
The court also declared that “any action taken during the pendency of the suit is null, void, and of no effect whatsoever.” However, just two days after the court’s ruling, the Senate proceeded to suspend Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months.
In response to the court order, the Senate President contested the power of the court to interfere in the internal affairs of the legislature, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction to intervene in Senate matters.
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Akpoti-Uduaghan’s counsel stated that the enrolled order of the interim injunction issued by Justice Egwuatu was duly served on the defendants on March 5. According to Form 48, the defendants/contemnors “deliberately and contumaciously disregarded” the binding directive of the court and “proceeded with acts in flagrant defiance of the authority of the court.”
The court, in a notice of disobedience of a court order signed by its Registrar pursuant to Section 72 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act 2004, informed the defendants/contemnors of their wilful disobedience to the court order issued by Justice Obiora Egwuatu.
It warned that defying the subsisting order rendered Akpabio, Senator Imasuen, and the Clerk of the National Assembly liable for contempt of court, which could result in their committal to prison.
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