Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, yesterday, denied the involvement of Chief Olisa Agbakoba and Monday Ubani, both SANs, in the defence of an alleged unlawful suspension suit filed by Kogi State Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Lawyers representing the senate and Akpabio, who were second and third respondents, respectively, told Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court that the two lawyers being accused of disobeying the orders of the court were not members of the legal team.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had dragged the Clerk of the Senate, the Senate, President of the Senate, and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics to court over her suspension on March 5.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on April 4, Justice Nyako had made an order restraining Akpabio, Akpoti-Uduaghan as well as their respective lawyers from speaking with the media on the substantive issue and fixed May 12 for hearing of all pending applications.
However, before the next adjourned date, the plaintiff wrote a satirical apology letter to the Senate President, over her suspension from the Senate, based on her alleged refusal to succumb to sexual overtures from the senate president.
The said letter, which was published on her Facebook page on April 27, had since gone viral on social media.
Reacting, the second and third respondents on May 5, brought their respective applications seeking an order of court, directing the suspended senator to delete the viral satirical letter from her Facebook page and also tender an apology to the court for violating the order barring her from speaking with the media.
When the matter came up yesterday, parties in the suit informed the court that they had all filed their schedule of documents and were ready to proceed with the case.
However, Paul Daudu and Eko Ejembi Eko, both SAN, brought to the court’s attention an affidavit of non-compliance, wherein they accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of disobeying the orders of the court which barred her from speaking to the media.
They claimed that the alleged act of contempt was contained in the satirical letter which went viral on social media and mainstream media.
According to Daudu, the satirical apology was not just a mockery of the Senate and colleagues of the plaintiff but dwelt more on the substance of the case before the court.
Both Daudu and Eko told the court that the plaintiff raised a fresh issue they would want to respond to, explaining that Agbakoba and Ubani are never part of the respondents legal team.
Responding, Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyers maintained that the said satirical letter had nothing to do with the proceedings before Justice Nyako, rather a case of sexual harassment before another court.
Besides, lead counsel to the plaintiff, Mr Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, who also accused the respondents of disobeying the orders of the court, informed Justice Nyako of a contempt proceedings initiated against the respondents and urged the court to take their application first.
In a short ruling, the trial judge, who observed that the issue of contempt is crucial to the proceedings, adjourned till today, Tuesday, for hearing of all applications and the substantive suit.