Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has dismissed allegations by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan that she was treated like a domestic servant and a victim of dictatorship during her suspension from the upper chamber.

Akpabio, through his media aide, Kenny Okolugbo, described the Kogi Central lawmaker’s claims as “untrue and misleading,” insisting that her suspension was in line with Senate rules.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Show on Wednesday, Okolugbo explained that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s six-month suspension, which began on March 6, 2025, followed findings of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

Naijaonpoint reports that Okolugbo said, “Senator Natasha was suspended on 6th March 2025 for gross misconduct after the Ethics and Privileges and Public Petitions Committee presented its findings to the Senate. The decision to suspend her for six months was in line with Senate rules and regulations.”

He noted that her refusal to take her seat on February 20, 2025, and her conduct thereafter, were considered “despicable” by her colleagues.

Okolugbo also faulted Natasha’s earlier attempt to resume in July, stressing that it was premature.

He said, “She attempted to resume in July, which was premature, because the judgment of Justice Binta Nyako did not order her to be reinstated. It was an opinion that said that the six-month suspension was excessive.”

The media aide further listed what he described as the privileges and responsibilities given to the senator before her suspension.

“Senator Natasha was inaugurated on the 2nd of November 2023. By the 20th of November, she had already been made chairman of the committee on local contents.

“By January 2024, she was already a member of the International Public Parliamentary Union, she was made a member of ECOWAS, she had submitted three bills, and interestingly, while she was in suspension, her bill on the Federal Medical Centre in Kogi State was passed into law.

“How many senators have bills that have been passed into law? So how would she now say that she was being treated as a slave?” Okolugbo asked.

He stressed that Akpabio bore no personal grudge against Natasha, adding that the Senate only acted according to its standing orders.