NLC Warns Senate Over Natasha Suspension, Calls It Assault on Democracy
By Uzoamaka Mfoniso
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the continued barring of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming her constitutional duties, describing it as “a brazen, premeditated assault on democracy” and a descent into “legislative dictatorship.”
In a strongly worded statement , NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the Senate under Godswill Akpabio had “crossed the line of impunity” by ignoring court rulings that voided the senator’s suspension and still denying her return to the red chamber after the expiry of the six-month sanction.
Ajaero, said the Senate’s actions represent “a brazen, premeditated assault on democracy itself, a direct threat to the social contract, and a dangerous slide towards fascism masquerading as governance.”
Ajaero expressed outrage that despite a court ruling voiding Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension, the Senate still prevented her from resuming her constitutional duties after the expiration of the six-month sanction.
He said: “That you suspended a fellow Senator from her constitutional roles depriving her people proper representation is not sinful enough but you went ahead to ignore the rulings of the Court that voided her suspension and at the expiration of your illegal suspension, you are still denying her a return is the height of impunity and morally reprehensible. This is no longer democracy.”
The NLC accused the Senate of bad faith for claiming the matter was sub judice even after the suspension lapsed.
“The Senate’s pathetic recourse to a frivolous legal technicality… is a cynical ploy that reveals a sinister agenda to silence dissent, crush opposition, and manipulate the judiciary as a tool of political persecution. This action, led by Senator Akpabio, constitutes a gross abuse of power that shames the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly and spits on the collective will of the people of Kogi Central who elected Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan,” Ajaero declared.
He warned that the decision to sideline Akpoti-Uduaghan was a direct assault on Nigerians themselves: “From our standpoint, this action is a direct attack on the Nigerian people. It is a declaration by a privileged political elite that they are not accountable to the citizens they purport to serve. By willfully disenfranchising an entire senatorial district, the Senate is effectively stealing the political representation for which the people pay taxes. This denies Kogi Central its right to participate in lawmaking, oversight, and the appropriation of national resources, directly impoverishing the constituents and perpetuating a system of exclusion and economic injustice.”
The labour movement also warned that the case signaled a deeper political agenda ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“The NLC stands on the side of democracy and wishes to state that this action is a calculated test-run for the emasculation of opposition and the subjugation of sovereign will as 2027 approaches. It is an attempt to punish integrity and honour and hound men and women of conscience out of the political space,” Ajaero stated.
He added that a Senate that acts as judge in its own matter, suspends members illegally, and then refuses to honour its own timelines has declared war on representative democracy.
In a stern warning to Senate leadership, the NLC President said: “We warn the leadership of the National Assembly and their enablers: the Nigerian people, united across ethnic and religious lines, will not stand idly by while you cannibalise our democracy. The labour movement, as the historic defender of justice and the common good, will mobilise its immense membership and moral authority to resist this slide into autocracy. An attack on one senator today is an attack on the sovereignty of every Nigerian voter tomorrow.”
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the first woman ever elected to represent Kogi Central in the National Assembly, embodies a historic breakthrough in Nigeria’s male-dominated political landscape.
Her rise from grassroots advocacy to the red chambers has been described as a triumph of resilience and people’s will against entrenched political structures. Her ordeal, however, underscores the fragility of women’s gains in political leadership and renews calls for deliberate gender inclusion in Nigeria’s governance system.
With her prolonged suspension, constituents in Kogi Central have been denied not only her voice in lawmaking and oversight but also critical developmental dividends tied to effective representation.
For many, her continued exclusion symbolizes the silencing of a pioneering female leader and the disenfranchisement of an entire senatorial district yearning for progress, while also sending a troubling signal to aspiring women leaders that political participation can be weaponized against them.
