Communications and strategy consultant to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Ken Okolugbo, has stated that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central cannot resume her legislative duties until due process is followed, stressing that she must also tender an apology to the Senate for her conduct during her legal challenge.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday, Okolugbo dismissed the assumption that Natasha’s court victory automatically reinstates her, clarifying that the judgement cited was an obiter dictum, a non-binding judicial comment, rather than a legally enforceable directive.
He argued that Senator Natasha did not follow proper procedures in her attempt to resume, noting that her correspondence was not routed through the Clerk of the National Assembly or the leadership of the Senate.
“She said she was going to resume last Tuesday. Now she has seen the CTC.Her lawyers have now written to say she’s resuming on Tuesday. She’s not going to be able to resume on Tuesday, there’s a process. Even if, assuming it was a ratio decidendi, where it was binding, there’s still a process. The Senate will have to receive it through the Clerk of the National Assembly, who will now send to the Senate leadership. The Senate leadership will evaluate, take a decision, and alert the sergeants at arms. It’s a process.
“The judgement that was given is not an enforceable judgement. It’s an obiter dictum,” he said.
He also said that Natasha filed a notice of appeal challenging the N5 million fine imposed on her by the court for discussing her case on social media, without waiting to see if the Senate will consider a cross-appeal, which could further prolong the resolution of the matter.
“While it is within her right to appeal the issue of content, and that is very true. Why is she not even waiting for the Senate to study it and come up with their own position? How is she sure the Senate is not going to cross appeal, just like she has appealed? You don’t cherry pick the aspects you’re going to appeal, and you say you want an obiter dictum to be enforced. It’s never done in law.”
The fine was handed down after the court found her in contempt, citing her online comments about an ongoing legal case. Okolugbo said part of the court’s expectation was for Natasha to delete the posts and apologise — both of which, he claims, she has failed to fully do.
He said, “The apology is not to the court alone. What the Senate president asked was that she should delete her Facebook page, apologise to him, and apologise to the court. And she deleted her Facebook post of the satirical apology. And that was what the court expected of her. You don’t apologise on the air. The truth about it is that that apology was supposed to be to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and also to the court.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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