NLC tackles senate over Akpoti Uduaghan’s suspension

…Says continued persecution amounts to legislative dictatorship

By Sunday Ani

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the Senate’s decision to continue barring Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from performing her legislative duties after serving a six-moth suspension.

A statement by the NLC president Joe Ajaero noted that the action is not merely an error in judgement but a brazen, premeditated assault on democracy as well a direct threat to the social contract, and a dangerous slide towards fascism masquerading as governance.

Part of the statement read: “That you suspended a fellow Senator from her constitutional roles depriving her people proper representation is not sinful enough but you went ahead to ignore the rulings of the Court that voided her suspension and at the expiration of her illegal suspension, you are still denying her a return, is the height of impunity and morally reprehensible. This is no longer democracy.

“The Senate’s pathetic recourse to a frivolous legal technicality; claiming the matter is subjudice after the expiration of a patently illegal six-month suspension, is the height of legislative bad faith.

“It is a cynical ploy that reveals a sinister agenda to silence dissent, crush opposition, and manipulate the judiciary as a tool of political persecution. This action, led by Senator Goodwill Akpabio, constitutes a gross abuse of power that shames the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly and spits on the collective will of the people of Kogi Central who elected Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.

“From our standpoint, this action is a direct attack on the Nigerian people. It is a declaration by a privileged political elite that they are not accountable to the citizens they purport to serve. By wilfully disenfranchising an entire senatorial district, the Senate is effectively stealing the political representation for which the people pay taxes.

“This denies Kogi Central its right to participate in lawmaking, oversight and the appropriation of national resources, directly impoverishing the constituents and perpetuating a system of exclusion and economic injustice. It signals to all Nigerians that their votes are meaningless and can be invalidated by the whims of any tyrannical leadership.

“The NLC stands on the side of democracy and wishes to state that this action is a calculated test-run for the emasculation of opposition and the subjugation of sovereign will as 2027 approaches. It is an attempt to punish integrity and honour and hound men and women of conscience out of the political space.

“A Senate that operates as a court in its matter, suspends members and then ignores the expiry of its own sanctions, is a Senate that has declared war on the very principles of representative democracy and on our nation.

“We warn the leadership of the National Assembly and their enablers, the Nigerian people, united across ethnic and religious lines, will not stand idly by while you cannibalise our democracy.

“The labour movement, as the historic defender of justice and the common good, will mobilise its immense membership and moral authority to resist this slide into autocracy. An attack on one senator today is an attack on the sovereignty of every Nigerian voter tomorrow.”