{"id":154560,"date":"2025-03-09T23:43:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T22:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku"},"modified":"2025-03-25T18:38:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:38:37","slug":"natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku","title":{"rendered":"Natasha\u2019s 6-month suspension violation of Kogi Central\u2019s rights \u2013 PDP chieftain Maku"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State, Chief Francis Maku, has called on the Senate to rescind its decision and reinstate Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.<\/p>\n<p>He insisted that the suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan beyond 14 days violates the rights of her constituents.<\/p>\n<p>Maku, a former Chairman of Warri North Local Government Council, said in an interview that the Senate lacks the power to suspend her. He urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene as a matter of urgency to save the National Assembly from public ridicule.<\/p>\n<p>Describing the six-month suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan as harsh and inconsistent with the principles of fair hearing and freedom of speech enshrined in the 1999 Constitution\u2014which supersedes any other laws\u2014he questioned why the Senate had not handled the issue with sincerity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Senate is a respected public institution and must not be seen as a biased establishment where equal rights and fairness are denied to a particular constituency, thereby depriving the people of Kogi Central of their right to proportional representation in governance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Reacting to the Senate Leader\u2019s statement that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan\u2019s suspension was due to flagrant disobedience to the Senate\u2019s Standing Orders 2023 (as amended), Maku argued that freedom of speech is a fundamental right of all citizens, adding that the Nigerian Constitution reigns supreme in matters of public interest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Senator Ali Ndume v. Senate (2018), the Court of Appeal ruled that the Senate lacks the power to suspend a senator beyond a reasonable period (often not exceeding 14 days), as it violates the rights of the constituents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe National Assembly has a responsibility to uphold the country\u2019s image on the international stage by accommodating all petitions and treating all senators equally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people of Kogi Central cannot be left without a voice in the Red Chamber<\/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. A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State, Chief Francis Maku, has called on the Senate to rescind its decision and reinstate Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. He insisted that the suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan beyond 14 days violates the rights of her constituents. Maku, a former Chairman of Warri North Local [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":154559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[16274,11955,254,65],"class_list":["post-154560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-maku","tag-natasha","tag-nigeria","tag-pdp"],"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>Natasha\u2019s 6-month suspension violation of Kogi Central\u2019s rights \u2013 PDP chieftain Maku - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State, Chief Francis Maku, has called on the Senate to rescin ...\" \/>\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\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Natasha\u2019s 6-month suspension violation of Kogi Central\u2019s rights \u2013 PDP chieftain Maku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State, Chief Francis Maku, has called on the Senate to rescin ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-09T22:43:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T17:38:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741551313.850076.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\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\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Natasha\u2019s 6-month suspension violation of Kogi Central\u2019s rights \u2013 PDP chieftain Maku\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-09T22:43:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-25T17:38:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku\"},\"wordCount\":323,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741551313.850076.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Maku\",\"Natasha\",\"Nigeria\",\"PDP\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natashas-6-month-suspension-violation-of-kogi-centrals-rights-pdp-chieftain-maku\",\"name\":\"Natasha\u2019s 6-month suspension violation of Kogi Central\u2019s rights \u2013 PDP chieftain Maku - 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