A Nigerian senator who was suspended after accusing the senate president of sexual harassment, which he denies, has been refused entry to the parliamentary complex.<\/p>\n
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has linked the six-month suspension to her accusation but the senate leadership said it was because of \u201cunruly and disruptive\u201d behaviour during a legislative session.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, her convoy was halted at the outer gate of the National Assembly in Abuja. Continuing on foot she was stopped by security at the inner gate.<\/p>\n
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of just four women out of 109 senators, had vowed to return to work on Tuesday following a federal high court ruling that she said ordered the Senate to allow her to do so.<\/p>\n
But Senate President Godswill Akpabio argued that the courts cannot interfere in parliamentary business.<\/p>\n
Akpoti-Uduaghan was barred from parliament in March after submitting a petition saying she had been sexually harassed.<\/p>\n
Akpabio has gone to the court of appeal to challenge the decision that his female colleague should be reinstated, saying that parliamentary procedures are shielded from judicial interference.<\/p>\n
That court has not yet ruled.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists shortly after being denied entry to the National Assembly, Akpoti-Uduaghan accused the senate leadership of being in contempt of court.<\/p>\n
\u201dAkpabio cannot be greater than the Nigerian constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe office of the senate president does not give me legitimacy. My legitimacy comes from the people of Kogi (state) who voted me in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The lawmaker said she would consult her legal team on the next steps.<\/p>\n
According to senate rules, Akpoti-Uduaghan should not be allowed into the assembly premises until her suspension expires in September.<\/p>\n
Civil society groups in the country have expressed concerns over the lawmaker\u2019s treatment, calling for a transparent investigation into her allegations.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Nigerian senator who was suspended after accusing the senate president of sexual harassment, which he denies, has been refused entry to the parliamentary complex. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has linked the six-month suspension to her accusation but the senate leadership said it was because of \u201cunruly and disruptive\u201d behaviour during a legislative session. On Tuesday, her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}