Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, has criticized his colleague, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, over her protest regarding seating arrangements in the Senate chamber.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central under the People’s Democratic Party ,PDP, had on Thursday refused to use the seat allocated to her, citing Order 10 of the Senate Standing Rules, which protects the privileges of members.
At the height of the disagreement, Senate President Godswill Akpabio called for security officers to remove her from the chamber. However, intervention from fellow lawmakers prevented the situation from escalating further.
Reacting to the incident during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Adaramodu insisted that the Senate is a place for serious business, not a platform for theatrics.
“What we are saying is that the National Assembly is not for content creation in entertainment. The National Assembly is for serious business”, he stated.
He also dismissed Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegations of bullying, arguing that she had already been assigned key committee roles despite being a first-time senator.
“If she is talking like that, being bullied or sidelined, as a first-timer, she even had three committees that she was appointed as chairman. You are entitled to only one committee to be the chairman, and she is in charge of Foreign Affairs, NGOs now”, Adaramodu explained.
Despite the controversy, Adaramodu ruled out any disciplinary action against Akpoti-Uduaghan, revealing that her Kogi colleague, Senator Isah Jubril, had already apologized on her behalf.
“The Senate as a whole has already accepted that tendered apology, so we are not going to revisit that”, he assured.
Meanwhile, Cynthia Mbamalu, Director of Programmes at Yiaga Africa, criticized Senate President Godswill Akpabio for not allowing Akpoti-Uduaghan to speak before attempting to have her removed.
According to Mbamalu, the female senator was merely citing the Senate Standing Rules and should have been given the opportunity to express her concerns.
“I felt that in itself showed that there was little tolerance for the agitation she presented”, Mbamalu said, recalling a 2018 incident where Akpabio had a similar dispute with then-Senate President Bukola Saraki.
She further argued that male senators have made more aggressive protests in the past without facing similar consequences.
“We have seen tougher and angrier agitations by senators, and no one has questioned them for being too aggressive”, she noted.
The controversy has sparked discussions on gender representation and respect for parliamentary procedures within the Senate.
