Treason can be described as any attempt to overthrow the government of a country or impair the well-being of a state to which one owes allegiance. The conduct of the Senate with regards to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Thursday, 6 March, 2025 amounts to suspension of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; a brazen act of treason.
Section 249 of the Criminal Code Act, 2004 provides that: “Any person who does an act which is likely to cause a breach of the peace, or who does an act which, in the circumstances in which it is done, is likely to cause fear or alarm to the public, or to any particular person, is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for one month.”The conduct of the Senate with regards to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Thursday, 6 March, 2025 may likely result in a breach of public peace, as her constituents from Kogi Central may take the law into their own hands on account of their unconstitutional exclusion from the Senate of the Federal Republic Nigeria for six months.
At a plenary on Thursday (6 March, 2025), the Senate suspended Mrs Natasha Apoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, for six months. Her salary and allowances would also be stopped while all her security aides would be withdrawn during the duration of the suspension. In fact, she must not step her feet on the premises of the National Assembly and must hand over all Senate properties in her possession to the Clerk!
The punishment was slammed on the senator for refusing to occupy her new seat during plenary on 20 February, 2025 because she believed the new sitting arrangement without her prior knowledge violated her privileges.
The first wrong assumption we often make as a country is in the interpretation of Section 1(2) of the Constitution as a provision against military rule. This is unfortunate. The kernel of s.1(2) of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution is that, “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed … except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”
Sections 47 and 48 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) declare emphatically as follows:
“There shall be a National Assembly for the Federation which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.”
“The Senate shall consist of three Senators from each State and one from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
Section 1 (3) of the Constitution submits that:
“If any other law (such as Senate Standing Rules) is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.”
According to Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),
287. “(1) The decisions of the Supreme court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the supreme Court.”
“(2) The decisions of the Court of Appeal shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the court of Appeal.”
“(3) The decisions of the Federal High Court, a High Court and of all other courts established by this Constitution shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by other courts of law with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Federal High Court, a High Court and those other courts, respectively.”
Section 6 of the Constitution clothes the Nigerian courts with judicial powers. Any suspension of a legislator by the House of Assembly of a state or the National Assembly is act of brazen illegality.
There have been several judicial authorities against the suspension of legislators in Nigeria, the case of Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly vs. Hon Rifkatu Samson Danna (2017) 49 W.R.N, being the locus classicus. The Court of Appeal declared that – and that is the extant law in Nigeria, as of today – there is no master-servant relationship between the legislature (House of Assembly or National Assembly) and a lawmaker, as the legislator is a representative of a constituency recognised by the Constitution.
The appellate court also ruled that “The fixing of salaries and wages of the respondent (Hon Danna) lies within the province of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission under Section 111 of the Constitution, certainly not the 1st and 2nd appellants. The 1st and 2nd appellants (Speaker of Bauchi and the House of Assembly) have no right to interfere with the salaries and allowances of the respondent serving as a member of Bauchi State House of Assembly. No Rules or Standing Order of Bauchi State House of Assembly can derogate these rights and privileges conferred on an elected member of the House of Assembly.”
Therefore, the Senate Standing Rules and Senate Orders with regard to suspension of a legislator and their salaries DO NOT EXIST IN ANY LAW OF THE LAND, RUN CONTRARY TO THE CONSTITUTION OF NIGERIA, hence are null and void ab initio.
While the IGP is bound by the Constitution to give police protection to Senator Natasha as she continues her legislative business in the National Assembly next week, the IGP is bound by the Constitution to arrest and prosecute members of the Senate leadership for conduct that is likely to cause a breach of the peace.
A flagrant illegality or an assault on the Constitution of Nigeria is not covered by parliamentary immunity. The Senate has no constitutional power to ‘unvote’ Senator Apoti-Uduaghan, who was voted into the Upper Chamber by the people of Kogi Central to represent them. The acts of the Senate (leadership) against Senator Apoti-Uduaghan are mind-boggling and completely ultra vires, a throw-back to the distasteful dictatorship of the military era. We did not shake off the yoke of the military only to now be manacled by legislative tyranny.
