A former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Kaduna State, Mark Jacobs, believes Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan should be allowed to resume at the Senate following her suspension.
The Senate on Tuesday acknowledged the lawmaker’s notice, informing the upper chamber of her intention to resume following her six-month suspension, but stated that her matter cannot be addressed until the court rules on the matter.
But Jacobs, who spoke on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, argued that the Kogi Central lawmaker does not need the finalisation of a judicial process to resume sitting at the National Assembly.
“What I see is a further display of impunity gone wild. The Senate has always insisted that nobody, including the courts, should interfere with its constitutional powers to discipline members.
“Yet, the same Senate suspended this woman for six months, and when those six months expired, there should be no confusion; she should have been allowed to resume her seat,” the former commissioner said on the breakfast show.
The senator representing Kogi Central was suspended in March over a violation of the Senate’s rules. She challenged the matter in court in July and made an unsuccessful attempt to resume sitting.
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Last week, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan wrote to the Senate, informing it of her intention to resume.
However, the lawmakers, while acknowledging her letter, said they would not take action on it until the end of the court process.
Reacting to the Senate’s decision, the former commissioner accused it of double standards, citing a court verdict that ruled her suspension as unconstitutional.
“You cannot blow hot and cold at the same time. You cannot say the courts should not interfere in your internal affairs and then turn around to rely on the court process to delay compliance with your own rules. Six months should be six months, no discussion, no hesitation,” Jacobs argued.
He criticised the Senate for frustrating the judicial process through unending objections and preliminary filings in the case, rather than allowing the substantive issues to be heard.
“They keep filing one objection or the other to make sure we don’t get to a hearing. If they believe they have evidence against her, let the matter proceed in court. But you can’t keep the case stalled and at the same time deny her return after the suspension period has lapsed,” he told the morning show crew from the nation’s capital of Abuja.
