Michael Numa, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and counsel to Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Kogi central senator, has asked Yahaya Danzaria, acting clerk of the national assembly, to facilitate her resumption or face legal action.
Natasha had, in a letter dated August 28, 2025, notified the clerk of her intention to resume on September 4, the date she said marked the end of her six-month suspension.
On Tuesday, the national assembly prevented Natasha from resuming legislative duties, insisting that her suspension is still a subject of litigation.
In a letter dated September 10, Numa said the clerk’s claim that her resumption is blocked by sub judice was a “misuse of the rule”.
He said the position was either “ill-advised or deliberately contrived to deprive our client of the constitutional mandate freely bestowed upon her by the constituents of Kogi Central Senatorial District”.
The lawyer argued that the constitution does not empower the clerk or the senate to extinguish the sovereign will of the people by administrative action.
“It is imperative to restate that our client’s right to resume her parliamentary duties, after the expiration of her fixed-term suspension, is rooted in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and cannot be abridged by administrative fiat or internal senate manoeuvrings,” the letter reads.
He recalled that in March, Natasha secured a federal high court order restraining the senate from proceeding with disciplinary action against her.
Numa claimed Binta Nyako of the federal high court later declared the suspension unlawful and unconstitutional, and directed her recall.
The lawyer described the clerk’s alleged resistance as part of a “disturbing pattern of judicial defiance” that undermines the authority of the courts.
He noted that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s six-month suspension expired on September 6, 2025, and that the senate has no power to extend or renew the punishment.
“As clerk of the national assembly, you are not an elected member of the senate. Your functions are purely ministerial: to record, transmit, and implement decisions duly made by the Senate or directed by the courts,” he added.
“Our demand is that you immediately facilitate Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s resumption of her legislative duties without further obstruction.”
Numa warned that if the clerk fails to comply by September 15, he would initiate contempt proceedings and other legal actions against him in his personal and official capacity.
In February, Akpoti-Uduaghan and Godswill Akpabio, the senate president, had a heated exchange over a change in seating arrangements.
The upper legislative chamber later suspended the senator for “gross misconduct”.
On July 22, all gates to the national assembly complex were locked to prevent Akpoti-Uduaghan from entering the premises.
