The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned till Tuesday, May 13, to hear the contempt applications brought before it by the suspended Senator representing Kogi Central at the National Assembly, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Senate, and its President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, in Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suit challenging her suspension by the Senate over allegations of misconduct, based on allegations of bias by one of the parties in the suit.

Akpoti-Uduaghan had, in her motion, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/384/2025, joined the Clerk of the National Assembly (NASS), the Senate, the Senate President, and Senator Neda Imasuem, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct, as defendants.

When the suit, which was reassigned to Justice Binta Nyako following the withdrawal of Justice Obiorah Egwuatu from the matter, was called on Monday, counsel to the suspended Senator, Jibrin Okutekpa, SAN, told the court that the plaintiff had filed all the documents to be relied on in the matter, in line with the directive of the court at the last hearing in the matter.

Counsel to the Senate, Paul Daudu, SAN, and that of the Senate President, Ekwo Ejembi Ekwo, told the court that they had also filed their various documents to be relied on in the matter, but however drew the attention of the court to a motion for disobedience to the order of the court against the plaintiff.

The two senior lawyers representing the 2nd and 3rd defendants in the suit said the plaintiff had responded to their motion.

They both alleged that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan disobeyed the order of the court when she, on March 27, posted a satirical letter of apology to the Senate president on her Facebook page and published it in some national dailies.
Plaintiff’s counsel, Michael Numan, SAN, confirmed the receipt of the motion and reminded the court of a motion for disobedience of court order against all the defendants filed earlier.

He said the alleged statement credited to the plaintiff had no connection with her, adding that the alleged contemptuous statement had no nexus with the plaintiff.

Ekwo Ejembi Ekwo, representing Akpabio, said he filed a motion on notice on May 5, alleging that the Facebook post made by the plaintiff was a direct mockery of the order of the court.

“The publication of the Punch, which we attached to our motion, showed outright disobedience to the order of the court by the plaintiff,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, in her counter-affidavit, accused the Senate President of attempting to curb her right to free speech, maintaining that her recent satirical letter to the Senate President was never in breach of a court order barring parties before the court from speaking with the media.

The suspended senator pointed out that while the content of her viral letter centred around her sexual harassment allegations against the Senate President, the matter before the court was her alleged unlawful suspension from the Senate.

The Kogi State senator had approached the court to restrain the Senate from taking any disciplinary actions against her pending the hearing of a suit against the leadership of the Senate.

Responding, Justice Emeka Nwite granted the request on March 4 and summoned the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, amongst others, to appear before the court in respect of the matter.

However, the Senate went ahead to suspend Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months on the following day, March 5. Following accusations of bias by Akpabio, Justice Nwite had recused himself from hearing the matter, which was then assigned to Justice Binta Nyako.

At the hearing on April 4, Justice Nyako had barred Akpabio, Akpoti-Uduaghan, as well as their respective lawyers, from speaking with the media on the substantive issue and fixed May 12 for the hearing of all pending applications.

However, the Senate President, who is the 3rd defendant in the suit, on May 5, brought an application seeking an order of court, directing the suspended senator to delete the viral satirical letter from her Facebook page and also tender an apology to the court for violating the order barring her from speaking with the media.

Responding, Akpoti-Uduaghan, in a counter affidavit filed on May 8, submitted that it was the third defendant who, through his legal representatives, Chief Olisa Agbakoba and Monday Ubani, both SANs, violated the orders of the court.

In defending the satirical letter, the plaintiff argued that whereas the issue before the court centred on her alleged unlawful suspension, her letter, addressed to Akpabio and not the court, was on her alleged sexual harassment by the Senate president.

In a 28-paragraph affidavit, the plaintiff claimed that the motion on notice was a strategy by Akpabio “to ambush me and foist an adjournment on the court’s scheduled proceedings of May 12, 2025.”

She said Akpabio’s actions formed part of a series of calculated moves by him to frustrate the judicial process and ensure that “I do not return to the Senate, thereby completing the term of my unlawful suspension without judicial resolution.”

Akpoti-Uduaghan further claimed that Akpabio, by his alleged continued disobedience of court orders, while simultaneously seeking to invoke the court’s contempt jurisdiction against her, was bringing the institution of the court to odium and undermining public confidence in the administration of justice.

“That the 3rd defendant’s application is not only malicious but, if granted, would amount to rewarding contempt, encouraging procedural ambushes, and punishing my constituents by prolonging the void in representation at the Senate,” she added.

The Kogi senator accordingly urged the court to reject the application for being incompetent since it was aimed at gagging her right to freedom of expression and frustrating the hearing in her suit before the court.

“The letter under reference was not addressed to the court, had no nexus with the subject matter before the court when construed side-by-side with the issues for determination and the relief sought.

“It is our submission that this application is an affront to the authority and majesty of the court. We submit that the 3rd defendant has not approached this honourable court with clean hands and as such should not be indulged by this court. The application is simply an attempt to change the normative of the case from the substance therein. The sole objective of the application is to foist an adjournment on the court in a bid to further delay the determination of this matter on the merit,” she added.

Meanwhile, Justice Nyako adjourned the matter till Tuesday, May 13, by 12 noon to take all the processes filed in the suit, including the motions on the disobedience to the order of the court.