The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Thursday berated the Nigerian Senate’s decision to prevent Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming her legislative duties after fulfilling the terms of her six-month suspension.
Afenifere, which fumed at the Senate’s handling of the situation, described the action as deeply flawed, warning that the decision tends to portray a dangerous political precedent in the country.
According to the Secretary-General of the organisation, Sola Ebiseni, who spoke with journalists in Akure, the Ondo State capital, the “circumstances surrounding the suspension of the Kogi Central Senator and the sledgehammer sanction left much to be desired.”
Ebiseni, a lawyer, who warned that the action could be exploited at other levels of government, expressed concern that the same situation could be inflicted on the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, after serving out his suspension.
He said: “At the end of the six-month suspension term on the 6th of September, the cause of the action in court has become otiose, the trial of which has become at best a mere academic exercise which the court does not waste its precious judicial time on.
“It is an embarrassing misuse of language to still describe the subject of such action as sub judice. The Senate is, no doubt, by its composition, dominated by senior citizens, elder statesmen, holders of high-level positions in the Republic, and respectable personalities.
“To all intents and purposes, the handling of the Natasha saga from the very beginning left much to be desired. The present decision is far beneath the status and stature of the Senate and its members. It reeks of pettiness, which portrays Nigeria as a banana republic.
“The Senate should make a pronouncement and was only mildly discountenanced by the Federal High Court, Abuja, which described the rule under which the six-month suspension was meted out as excessive, only in deference to the principle of separation of powers.”
“Thus the decision to refuse her resumption, even having served the excessive penalty, on the untenable ground that the subject matter is still a subject of litigation, is distasteful and oppressive not only to the Senator but also to the good people of Kogi Central who have been denied their constitutional representation at the Senate.
“As the apex chamber of the nation’s legislature, the Senate should be wary of creating an obnoxious precedent such that the subnational assemblies may climb now or in the future.
“We hope that Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State will not soon be told that he cannot resume because of the pending suit by the PDP governors.”
