{"id":7416,"date":"2025-07-06T10:32:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T10:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416"},"modified":"2025-07-06T10:32:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T10:32:03","slug":"despite-court-judgement-senate-gives-one-condition-to-reinstate-suspended-natasha-akpoti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416","title":{"rendered":"Despite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n\n

In a judgement delivered on Friday, June 4, 2025 by Justice Binta Nyako, in a suit marked FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/384\/2025 filed by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Court described Natasha\u2019s suspension as excessive, advising the Senate to lift it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Senate, responding immediately, mentioned one condition the suspended senator must meet before she will be allowed to return to Chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate Spokesperson, Sen. Yemi Adaramodu, said the Red Chamber would not immediately reinstate the embattled senator, stating that the court judgment did not override the Senate\u2019s constitutional powers to discipline its members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhich judgment are we appealing when they (the court) said the Senate has the right to discipline its erring members? The court has not ousted the Senate\u2019s statutory right to punish any erring senator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was established that the senator in question erred. The court has already told her to go and and apologize to the Senate, like restitution, so after the restitution, the Senate will now sit again and consider the content of that restitution, and that will inform our next line of action,\u201d Adaramodu said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate, he explained, would only reconvene to deliberate on the matter after Akpoti-Uduaghan had complied with the court\u2019s directives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe onus is no more on us now; it is already on her doorstep to go and apologise. Once she does that, then the Senate will sit and determine how to deal with her matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first reaction now will not be from us, the court has ruled, so once she takes the step to redress and does what the court has directed her to do, then the Senate will sit and look at the content of her reaction as prescribed by the court,\u201d Adaramodu added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing journalists after the judgment, the Senate counsel, Paul Dauda, SAN, described the ruling as a partial victory for the Senate, particularly on the issue of civil contempt arising from social media posts made during the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dauda said, \u201cThe first application filed by the Senate, that no social media posts should have been made, was decided in our favour. The court directed that the satirical apology be taken down and that a proper apology be published in two national dailies. Additionally, damages of five million naira were awarded to be paid to the court.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the substantive ruling regarding the suspension, Dauda noted that the Senate\u2019s authority to discipline its members was not in dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt appears the court affirmed that the Senate, as an institution, has the right to discipline its members. While members are elected to represent constituencies, they are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the Senate\u2019s standing rules,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that the court did not order Akpoti-Uduaghan\u2019s reinstatement but merely suggested that the Senate could consider recalling her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was no relief asking for the suspension to be lifted. The judge only made what we call an obiter dictum, a non-binding remark, that the suspension may have been excessive. We will consult with our colleagues, read the full judgment, and respond accordingly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a judgement delivered on Friday, June 4, 2025 by Justice Binta Nyako, in a suit marked FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/384\/2025 filed by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Court described Natasha\u2019s suspension as excessive, advising the Senate to lift it. However, the Senate, responding immediately, mentioned one condition the suspended senator must meet before she will be allowed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[855,856],"class_list":{"0":"post-7416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-despite-court-judgement","9":"tag-senate-gives-one-condition-to-reinstate-suspended-natasha-akpoti"},"yoast_head":"\nDespite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti - Moon Ray News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Despite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a judgement delivered on Friday, June 4, 2025 by Justice Binta Nyako, in a suit marked FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/384\/2025 filed by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Court described Natasha\u2019s suspension as excessive, advising the Senate to lift it. However, the Senate, responding immediately, mentioned one condition the suspended senator must meet before she will be allowed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moon Ray News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-06T10:32:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-06T10:32:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1356.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"648\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Online Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Online Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416\",\"name\":\"Despite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti - Moon Ray News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1356.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-06T10:32:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-06T10:32:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a32838fdffd6e8f96ecad7d48449cff6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1356.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1356.jpeg\",\"width\":648,\"height\":473},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Despite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/\",\"name\":\"Moon Ray News\",\"description\":\"...in view of restructuring.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a32838fdffd6e8f96ecad7d48449cff6\",\"name\":\"Online Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8884e1ba8bd630f2bc99a7de9548ca4a?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8884e1ba8bd630f2bc99a7de9548ca4a?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Online Editor\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Despite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti - Moon Ray News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Despite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti","og_description":"In a judgement delivered on Friday, June 4, 2025 by Justice Binta Nyako, in a suit marked FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/384\/2025 filed by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Court described Natasha\u2019s suspension as excessive, advising the Senate to lift it. However, the Senate, responding immediately, mentioned one condition the suspended senator must meet before she will be allowed","og_url":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416","og_site_name":"Moon Ray News","article_published_time":"2025-07-06T10:32:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-06T10:32:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":648,"height":473,"url":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1356.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Online Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Online Editor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416","url":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416","name":"Despite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti - Moon Ray News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1356.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-07-06T10:32:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-06T10:32:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a32838fdffd6e8f96ecad7d48449cff6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1356.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1356.jpeg","width":648,"height":473},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?p=7416#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Despite Court Judgement, Senate Gives One Condition to Reinstate Suspended Natasha Akpoti"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/","name":"Moon Ray News","description":"...in view of restructuring.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a32838fdffd6e8f96ecad7d48449cff6","name":"Online Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8884e1ba8bd630f2bc99a7de9548ca4a?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8884e1ba8bd630f2bc99a7de9548ca4a?s=96&r=g","caption":"Online Editor"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/moonraynews.com"],"url":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7418,"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7416\/revisions\/7418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonraynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}