A coalition of civil society organisations have fiercely condemned the Nigerian Senate over the six-month suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, calling it a calculated move to silence dissent and a flagrant abuse of power.
In a statement jointly signed by Betty Abah, Executive Director, Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE); Ngozi-Juba Nwosu, Executive Director, VisionSpring Initiative; and Zikora Ibeh, Assistant Director, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation (CAPPA), they described her suspension as mischievously hasty, absurd, and most depressingly, a well-executed orchestrated mockery of International Women’s Day in Nigeria.
They also described the suspension of Natasha as a setback for women’s participation in Nigerian politics arguing that the suspension will deprive her constituents of representation and reinforcing a dangerous precedent of legislative repression.
“Her six-month suspension is not only a targeted witch hunt and outright political purge of dissent but also a brazen abuse of power, robbing her constituents of their right to representation. This pattern of legislative repression has already been declared unconstitutional in Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege v. Senate & 2 Ors (2018),” they said.
Demanding a public hearing, the CSOs called for an independent panel—including legal experts, impartial citizens, and civil society representatives—to investigate the allegations at the heart of the controversy.
They also criticized the response from lawmakers, both male and female, who they said had prioritized political loyalty over justice. Instead of advocating for due process, the legislators swiftly condemned Senator Natasha, reinforcing an environment where women’s political participation remains precarious.
“Women in politics are expected to endure violence and suppression in silence, their subjugation repackaged as a test of resilience and loyalty to the establishment,” the CSOs noted. They warned that the political elite’s dismissal of Senator Natasha’s case highlights a systemic bias that keeps women at the margins of decision-making.
With few women holding key political positions and those who are often sidelined, the CSOs stressed the urgent need to dismantle structures that reduce women’s leadership to mere tokenism.
They called for stronger democratic institutions that do not perpetuate the exclusion of women from politics.