Abuja
Natasha Reveals: Akpabio Is Angry Because Of My Access To Tinubu
Natasha Reveals: Akpabio Is Angry Because Of My Access To Tinubu
Natasha reveals: Akpabio is angry because of my access to Tinubu. Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central has revealed that her suspension from the national assembly was based on a pre-written script and driven by political motives.
Speaking during an interview with Adeola Fayehun, a US-based Nigerian journalist, Akpoti-Uduaghan said the March 6 incident was not spontaneous, but part of a “calculated plan”.
She said the claim that she disrupted proceedings over her seat was false.
“The impression being circulated is that I caused a scene over my seat. That is false,” she said.
“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.”
She accused Godswill Akpabio, the senate president, of abusing his office by unilaterally ordering her removal from the chamber.
“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.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan said her suspension followed a formal petition she submitted against the senate leadership the day before.
“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.
The lawmaker also addressed an allegation by Sandra Duru, who claimed the senator was trying to bring down the government led by someone from the south-west.
Akpoti-Uduaghan denied the allegation and said she is not driven by ethnic 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.”
She alleged that Duru’s remarks were sponsored by political interests threatened by her wide support.
“If anybody said that, it’s probably her team, the people who have sponsored her,” she said.
“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.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed her cordial relationship with President Bola Tinubu angered the senate president.
“The senate president, Godswill Akpabio, also knows that I enjoyed a good relationship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” she said.
“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.
Akpabio, Senator Natasha
“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.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended from the senate for alleged gross misconduct following her seating arrangement altercation with Akpabio.
The lawmaker said she believed her suspension was illegal, unjust and a way of silencing her.
She also rejected the senate’s position that she was not suspended over her s3xual harassment claim against Akpabio.
FCTA Confirms Antivenom Stock, Warns Negligent Hospitals, Gives Emergency Lines
FCTA confirms antivenom stock, warns negligent hospitals, gives emergency lines. The FCTA said all public hFCTA confirms antivenom stock, warns negligent hospitals, gives emergency linesospitals have sufficient antivenom after singer Ifunanya Nwangene’s death at FMC Jabi. Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe warned facilities to follow protocols or face sanctions, stressing that early treatment is critical.
FCTA
The territory has added 12 ambulances, improved ICUs, and centralized antivenom storage.
Residents are urged to use emergency lines 090157892931 or 090157892932.
FCT Police Warn NLC Against Planned Abuja Protest, Say Proscribed Groups Plot To Hijack
FCT Police warn NLC against planned Abuja protest, say proscribed groups plot to hijack. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command has warned the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) against its planned protest scheduled for Tuesday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The NLC leadership had fixed February 3 for a solidarity rally along with members of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC) at the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) secretariat in Garki Area 11.
The NLC declared that the rally is to publicly affirm that “an injury to one is an injury to all”, adding that the Nigerian labour movement will not abandon its members.
On January 24, the labour body declared support for the indefinite strike by workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), describing the action as “necessary and heroic” in response to alleged violation of workers’ rights.
In a statement, Joe Ajaero, NLC president, said the labour union stood “in very strong solidarity” with FCTA workers under the aegis of JUAC.
Ajaero described the strike as “a necessary and heroic response to a vicious cocktail of neoliberal attacks, gross administrative impunity, and a systematic violation of the fundamental rights of workers by the FCTA management and its political leadership”.
However, in a statement on Monday, Josephine Adeh, FCT police spokesperson, said the command respects the constitutional right to peaceful assembly, but noted that intelligence reports indicate “plans by proscribed groups and other non-state actors to infiltrate and hijack the protest, posing a risk to public peace and safety”.
Adeh said in the interest of public safety, the organisers should consider rescheduling the protest to prevent any breakdown of law and order and to protect lives, property, and the rights of other residents.
Police
“The Command remains committed to safeguarding all lawful activities and urges residents to continue cooperating with security agencies to keep the FCT peaceful and secure,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, the national industrial court has reportedly issued an interim order restraining the NLC, TUC and JUAC from embarking on the planned protest.
The court had earlier ordered workers on the payroll of the FCT administration to suspend the strike.
Emmanuel Subilim, the presiding judge, held that although the matter before the court amounted to a trade dispute, the defendants’ right to embark on industrial action was not absolute.
Akwa Ibom Indigenes Protest RMAFC Meeting, Warn Against Tampering With State’s Oil Wells
Akwa Ibom indigenes protest RMAFC meeting, warn against tampering with State’s Oil Wells. Akwa Ibom indigenes resident in Abuja on Tuesday stormed the venue of a meeting of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), where the Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) on Disputed/New Oil Wells was sitting, to protest what they described as attempts to reopen a matter already settled by the Supreme Court.
The protesters cautioned that no individual or agency should tamper with Akwa Ibom State’s 76 oil wells, stressing that the ownership of the wells was conclusively determined in favour of the state by the Supreme Court in 2012.
They insisted that any move to revisit the issue through administrative or technical processes would amount to a disregard for the authority of the apex court and could undermine peace in the Niger Delta region.
Akwa Ibom State was formally represented at the IATC meeting by a high-powered delegation comprising leading legal practitioners, government officials and technocrats. Members of the delegation included Paul Usoro, SAN; Assam Assam, SAN; the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Uko Udom, SAN; Uwemedimo Nwoko, SAN; Emmanuel Enoidem, SAN; and a former Attorney-General of Akwa Ibom State.
Akwa Ibom Indigenes Protest RMAFC Meeting
Also on the state’s delegation were the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Emem Bob, Former Attorney General and Commissioner Justice, Barr. Ekpenyong Ntekim; the Commissioner for Information, Dr. Aniekan Umanah; Honourable Member representing Ikot Ekpene Federal Constituency, Dr Patrick Umoh, among others.
The delegation is expected to present Akwa Ibom State’s position before the committee, reiterating that the Supreme Court judgment remains final and binding, and urging all relevant federal agencies to respect and uphold the ruling.
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