Suspended lawmaker representing Kogi Central in the National Assembly, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has described her recent suspension from the National Assembly as politically orchestrated and based on a predetermined agenda.
In an interview with U.S.-based Nigerian journalist Adeola Fayehun, the lawmaker claimed that the events leading to her suspension on March 6 were not accidental but the result of a “calculated plan.”
She dismissed accusations that she disrupted Senate proceedings over a dispute about her seat, insisting that the narrative was fabricated. According to Akpoti-Uduaghan, the entire incident was carefully staged to discredit and silence her politically.
She said: “The impression being circulated is that I caused a scene over my seat. That is false.
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“I raised a matter of privilege under chapter 4, Item 9b of the senate rules — a provision that demands immediate attention.
“But the senate president cut me off, ordered the sergeant-at-arms to remove me, and directed the clerk to begin preparing my suspension letter. That wasn’t a reaction; it was a pre-written script.
“He has no authority to unilaterally suspend any senator on the floor. The way he handled it — like I was a staff member in his living room — was not only unlawful but also degrading,” she said.
“My reaction was in response to a decision he had clearly already made.
“I believe my suspension was retaliatory. The ethics report they cited was merely a smokescreen. I had submitted allegations that shook the system, and the next day, I was silenced,” she said.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan also responded to allegations made by Sandra Duru, who accused her of attempting to undermine a government led by a figure from the South-West.
Dismissing the claim, the lawmaker firmly denied any such intentions, stating that her actions are not guided by ethnic bias or regional sentiments.
“People who know me know that I am not a tribalist. I respect and appreciate every tribe in Nigeria, every ethnicity,” she said.
“I am half Nigerian and half Ukrainian — who am I to talk about tribe when I am actually one part of the other world? That is not my nature; that is not my language.
“If anybody said that, it’s probably her team, the people who have sponsored her.
“Her sponsors are the ones who have probably put those words to her because they knew that I had enjoyed a lot of support from Nigerians — not just in Kogi state, but across the country and even in the diaspora.
“The senate president, Godswill Akpabio, also knows that I enjoyed a good relationship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“I have not said it in the open before, but I am saying it now, and that actually annoyed him because there was a time when the senate president told my husband, ‘Are you aware that your wife goes to see the President?’ and my husband told him he was aware.
“Whenever I have critical issues to raise — like before I brought up the issue of probing Ajaokuta — I did meet with Mr President to make sure he knew the nature of it, and he was okay with it. For other matters too, I have met him in person.
“So, I do not have a hostile relationship with the president, even though I am in the opposition. I keep saying, the good people of Kogi central voted me as a senator to work, not to antagonise or create enmity.
“I want the people to know my issue is with the senate president — not the entire senate, the Nigerian people, the institutions, or the presidency.”
