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Senate votes to send Natasha to face Ethics committee over seat reallocation palaver
The Senate has unanimously voted to refer Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions for disciplinary review, following her recent seating arrangement dispute.
The Kogi Senator had engaged in a shouting match on February 20 after discovering that her seat had been changed without her consent.
The committee, chaired by Senator Neda Imaseun, has been given two weeks to report back on its findings.
The decision was reached following a voice vote after lawmakers revisited the controversy surrounding the recent altercation between Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Senate leadership over seat allocation, with lawmakers underpinning the need to uphold parliamentary rules and decorum.
In a motion raised under Order 1(b) and 10, condemning what he described as Akpoti-Uduaghan’s “extreme intransigence” during the Senate session on February 20, Senate spokesperson, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, revived the saga on the floor, stating that “from that Thursday, the media was awash with this issue and I had to work on mending the perception of the 10th Senate. The Senate is not a platform for content creation but a place for lawmaking and oversight functions.”
He urged the Senate leadership to enforce discipline, warning that “Where there is sin, there must be a penalty.”
Supporting Adaramodu, the Senate leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, also weighed in, reaffirming the Senate’s commitment to its rules and internal order.
According to him, “There is no one who does not have an opinion on this issue, but we are unified by our rules. Under our watch, we will not allow this institution to be discredited beyond what we inherited. Integrity is non-negotiable.”
He dismissed claims that the dispute was rooted in gender bias or discrimination, citing examples of senior senators who had accepted seat changes without protest.
In response, the Senate President Godswill Akpabio directed the Committee on Ethics and Privileges to review the entire incident and report back to the chamber.
Akpabio recalled that the Senate rules allow members to sit anywhere, but contributions must be made from their designated seats. He suggested that unfamiliarity with Senate procedures may have contributed to the altercation.
He stated that “the first day she was sworn in, she stood up to contribute, and I was worried if she had even read the rule book. There is nothing wrong with being vibrant, but everything wrong with disobeying procedure.”
Citing Order 66(2) and Section 55 of Senate rules, he underscored that all senators must conduct themselves with decorum, including prohibitions on chewing gum, drinking water or being disruptive during sittings.
“The rules empower the Senate President to suspend a senator for infractions for at least 14 days. It’s not me who made the rules, it’s in the rule book.”
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 24.23% in March 2025, according to the official government data source, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The rise in the country’s inflation rate, from 23.18% back in February 2025 to 24.23% in March 2025, reflected a major increase in the rising commodity and energy costs in the last few weeks.
According to the March 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report which measures the inflation rate released by the government agency on Tuesday, the country’s food inflation rate was 21.79% year-on-year in March 2025.
The food inflation rate, however, showed a decrease compared to the food inflation rate of 23.51% recorded in February 2025.
Economists had predicted that the country’s inflation rate which decreased minimally in February would rise when the Dangote Refinery and the state-run NNPCL got entangled in a petrol price war that culminated in the temporary termination of a naira-for crude agreement between the two oil companies and the subsequent increase in the pump price of petrol.
Some observers had also said the minimal reduction in the prices of food commodities experienced earlier in February was not sustainable, attributing the temporary decline in the prices of food to the importation intervention of the Federal Government.
Food and commodity inflation have skyrocketed as Nigerians battle what can pass for the worst cost of living crisis since the country’s independence over six decades ago, a development that economic wizards have attributed to President Bola Tinubu’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of the forex rates.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has apologised to the people of Bassa Local Government Area (LGA) for the failure of government and security agencies to protect lives and properties.
Fifty-one persons were gunned down early Monday in the Zikke community of the LGA, with houses razed and many displaced about two weeks after a similar attack led to the killing of scores of persons in Bokkos Local Government Area.
Less than two days after the most recent assault, Governor Mutfwang apologised for the government’s inability to protect the people.
Fifty-one persons were gunned down early Monday in the Zikke community of the LGA, with houses razed and many displaced about two weeks after a similar attack led to the killing of scores of persons in Bokkos Local Government Area.
Less than two days after the most recent assault, Governor Mutfwang apologised for the government’s inability to protect the people.
The governor said this on Tuesday at the palace of the Paramount Ruler in Miango.
“I will tell you the truth: I have been crying since yesterday because I had trusted God that all the arrangements were put in place, that this will not happen again. We have made investments in security,” he said.
But like all human arrangements, sometimes they fail. I want to admit that on Sunday night into Monday morning, we failed you. Please, forgive me.”
He urged the people not to relent in their efforts to secure their communities and ensure that they complement security agencies’ efforts by providing vital information for intelligence gathering and expose the antics of the criminals.
Governor Mutfwang, in the company of security chiefs and members of the state executive council, was in Zikke community to commiserate with the people on the death of over fifty persons killed in Monday’s attacks.
The Paramount Ruler of Irigwe land, Ronku Aka, who is the Brangwe of Irigwe, urged the government to come to the aid of the communities with the provision of social amenities in the area.
The governor and the entourage also went to see some of the families who lost their loved ones in the attack. The victims have been buried just as members of the community demanded action to stem the rising wave of insecurity in the state.
Plateau State has been a hotbed of attacks, but the renewed spate of attacks adds a fresh layer of twist to the decades-long crisis rocking the North-Central state.
After the most recent assaults, President Bola Tinubu ordered security agencies to fish out the masterminds, describing the attacks as condemnable.
While experts have linked the lingering Plateau crisis to farmers-herders tussle for resources, Governor Muftwang said it was sponsored and genocidal.
According to him, over 64 communities in the state have been taken over by gunmen.
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