{"id":2854,"date":"2025-03-20T08:20:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T08:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/?p=2854"},"modified":"2025-03-20T08:20:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T08:20:52","slug":"court-vacates-order-declaring-senator-akpoti-uduaghans-suspension-null-and-void","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/court-vacates-order-declaring-senator-akpoti-uduaghans-suspension-null-and-void\/","title":{"rendered":"Court vacates order declaring Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan\u2019s suspension null and void"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">By Our Reporter<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday set aside its earlier ruling that nullified the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan by the Senate.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div id=\"attachment_1234\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1234\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1234\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot_20250115-111827_1-300x246.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot_20250115-111827_1-300x246.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot_20250115-111827_1.jpg 475w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1234\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Senate in session in the chamber<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Justice Obiora Egwuatu, in a ruling on Wednesday, vacated the order issued on March 4 after considering arguments from both parties in the case.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The court had initially granted five reliefs to Akpoti-Uduaghan, including an order that declared any action taken by the Senate while the suit was pending as &#8220;null, void, and of no effect.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The senator, who represents Kogi Central, had filed the suit to challenge her suspension and an investigation into alleged misconduct during a February 20 plenary session.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">However, the Senate, through its lawyer, Chikaosolu Ojukwu (SAN), argued that the order, particularly Order Number Four was vague, unconstitutional, and an infringement on legislative independence. Ojukwu contended that enforcing the order would amount to restraining the Senate from carrying out its constitutional functions, leading to a potential constitutional crisis.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Justice Egwuatu agreed with the Senate\u2019s argument and set aside Order Number Four, effectively lifting the restraint on the legislative body.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The case was adjourned to March 25 for further hearings.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Meanwhile, Akpoti-Uduaghan has continued to challenge her six-month suspension, which the Senate imposed after the initial court ruling.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">She has filed a contempt charge against the lawmakers, alleging they deliberately disregarded the court\u2019s directive.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The legal battle underscores tensions between the judiciary and legislature over parliamentary privileges and executive oversight.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">As the case progresses, observers await whether the embattled senator\u2019s suspension will stand or be overturned.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Our Reporter The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday set aside its earlier ruling that nullified the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan by the Senate. Justice Obiora Egwuatu, in a ruling on Wednesday, vacated the order issued on March 4 after considering arguments from both parties in the case. The court had initially [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[497,1796,1798,1440,108,1797],"class_list":["post-2854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-legislative","tag-nullify","tag-parliamentary","tag-privileges","tag-suspension","tag-vacates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2855,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854\/revisions\/2855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}