Hon. Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed June 27 to give a verdict in the case filed by the suspended Kogi Central senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Akpoti-Uduaghan is challenging her suspension from the Senate.
She instituted an action after the Senate, led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, suspended her over misconduct claims.
The Kogi Senator maintains that her suspension was unfair and influenced by bias.
In her case, she included the National Assembly, the Senate, the Senate President, and Senator Neda Imasuem, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct, as the defendants.
Justice Obiorah Egwuatu originally handled the case, but he stepped down and it was reassigned to Justice Binta Nyako.
When the case came up on Monday, Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyer, Jibrin Okutekpa, told the court that they had submitted all the documents they planned to use, as the court had earlier directed.
Lawyers for the Senate and the Senate President, Paul Daudu and Ekwo Ejembi, also said they had filed their documents.
However, they pointed out that Akpoti-Uduaghan had gone against a court order.
They accused her of disobeying the court by posting a satirical apology to the Senate President on her Facebook page on March 27 and publishing it in some newspapers.
“The plaintiff had responded to our motion,” the lawyers said, referring to the steps she took after being accused of contempt.
Akpoti-Uduaghan’s other lawyer, Michael Numan, said they had received the motion accusing her of disobeying the court.
He also reminded the judge that they had filed a similar motion earlier, accusing the defendants of disobeying the court.
He said, “The alleged statement credited to the plaintiff had no connection with her,” and insisted that “the alleged contemptuous statement had no nexus with the plaintiff.”
