By Mark Longyen
A former Member of the Gambian delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament and current representative at the Pan-Africa Parliament, Fatoumatta Njai, has written to the President of the Nigerian Senate, Godswill Akpabio, to reinstate Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan after what she described as an “unlawful suspension” from the Senate.
According to the Gambian lawmaker, today its Natasha, tomorrow it could be her, adding that she feels that after six months of “unlawful suspension”, Natasha should be reinstated with immediate effect.
As one of the three females out of the fifty-three elected members, she said that she was seizing the opportunity to raise the lone voice of a female representative in the sub-region.
“On July 4, 2025, Justice Binta Nyako delivered judgement on the high-profile suit filed by Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduagba.
“On the suspension matter, the court held that to suspend a member for a period of six month equals to a suspension for 180 days.
“This is the same number of days a member is expected to sit in the House, representing his people and which the court found excessive and over reaching, noting that it would prevent a member from complying with Section 63 of the 1999 constitution”.
She said: “The court added that the Senate has no the power to do so and it believed then that the senate should recall her and allow her resume her duty of representing the people who sent her there to represent them”.
“The Second arm of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as legislative arm should have been seen to adhere and respect the court judgement but has blatantly refused to obey the court judgement.
“I call the attention of the Senate that, in law, one must obey orders and then challenge the court order if the need arises, irrespective of these principles, the senate has refused the distinguished senator admission to the premises on the 22nd July, 2025.
“This is an afront to the rule of law and disgrace to the ruling of the same court the Senate is relying on to extend the suspension.
”Leadership is not about silencing voices especially those who dare to speak truth with courage and integrity.
“As the largest Country in the ECOWAS, Nigeria must take the role of a parent nation and set good examples at the ECOWAS level, her letter to the senate President emphasized,” Njai wrote.
