{"id":154482,"date":"2025-03-09T22:37:48","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T21:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman"},"modified":"2025-03-20T23:45:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T22:45:38","slug":"senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman","title":{"rendered":"Senate suspension of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan justified \u2013 Nasarawa APC chairman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Nasarawa State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aliyu Bello, has defended the Senate\u2019s decision to suspend Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, arguing that the move aligns with legislative procedures and should not be interpreted as gender bias.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate, on Thursday, upheld the recommendation of its Ethics Committee to suspend the Kogi Central lawmaker following her petition alleging sexual harassment by Senate President Godswill Akpabio. The committee dismissed her claims on procedural grounds, asserting that her actions had brought ridicule to the upper chamber.<\/p>\n<p>In an opinion piece titled \u201cAkpabio, Natasha, and Senate: A Question of Rules, Not Gender,\u201d Bello contended that Akpoti-Uduaghan\u2019s suspension was a matter of enforcing legislative order rather than an act of discrimination. He pointed to past instances where male senators faced similar disciplinary actions, including the 2018 suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central) for 90 days and the 2023 suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) over budget padding allegations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Nigerian Senate has a well-documented history of suspending members\u2014male and female\u2014who breach its rules,\u201d Bello stated. \u201cWhy, then, should Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan\u2019s case be framed differently?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He further argued that equating her suspension with gender marginalization risked trivializing genuine struggles for equity. According to him, \u201cThe Senate\u2019s disciplinary mechanisms are gender-blind, prioritizing institutional integrity over individual identity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bello emphasized that in a Senate of 109 lawmakers, no member\u2014including those from Akpoti-Uduaghan\u2019s party\u2014opposed the suspension. He maintained that enforcing parliamentary rules uniformly is key to maintaining order, urging advocates of gender equality to focus on systemic barriers rather than isolated cases.<\/p>\n<p>The suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan has ignited widespread debate, with critics accusing the Senate of targeting a female lawmaker. However, Bello\u2019s stance aligns with the Senate\u2019s argument that disciplinary actions must be applied without bias.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy surrounding the case is expected to continue, as supporters of Akpoti-Uduaghan demand a review of the decision, while others insist that legislative discipline must be upheld.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Nasarawa State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aliyu Bello, has defended the Senate\u2019s decision to suspend Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, arguing that the move aligns with legislative procedures and should not be interpreted as gender bias. The Senate, on Thursday, upheld the recommendation of its Ethics Committee to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":154481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[16271,396,16270,254],"class_list":["post-154482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-aliyu-bello","tag-kogi","tag-nasarawa-state-chairman-of-the-all-progressives-congress-apc","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senate suspension of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan justified \u2013 Nasarawa APC chairman - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nasarawa State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aliyu Bello, has defended the Senate\u2019s decision to suspe ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate suspension of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan justified \u2013 Nasarawa APC chairman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nasarawa State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aliyu Bello, has defended the Senate\u2019s decision to suspe ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-09T21:37:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-20T22:45:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741547514.600955.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"513\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Senate suspension of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan justified \u2013 Nasarawa APC chairman\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-09T21:37:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-20T22:45:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman\"},\"wordCount\":351,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741547514.600955.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aliyu Bello\",\"Kogi\",\"Nasarawa State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC)\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/senate-suspension-of-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan-justified-nasarawa-apc-chairman\",\"name\":\"Senate suspension of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan justified \u2013 Nasarawa APC chairman - 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