The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has come hard on the Senate, condemning the decision of the Godswill Akpabio-led Red Chamber of the National Assembly for the continuous barring of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from performing her “sacred” constitutional duties.
A statement signed by NLC President, Joe Ajaero said the act is not merely an error in judgement; it is a brazen, premeditated assault on democracy itself, a direct threat to the social contract, and a dangerous slide towards fascism masquerading as governance.
The Labour movement notes that as the historic defender of justice and the common good, it will mobilise its immense membership and moral authority to resist what it calls a slide into autocracy, stressing that an attack on one Senator today is an attack on the sovereignty of every Nigerian voter tomorrow.
The statement queried- is it not sinful enough suspending a fellow Senator from her constitutional roles, depriving her people proper representation, but the Senate went ahead to ignore the rulings of the Court that voided her suspension and at the expiration of her illegal suspension, she is still been denied her return.
The Labour body said the Senate action is the height of impunity and morally reprehensiveness, which is no longer democracy.
The NLC argues that the Senate’s pathetic recourse to a frivolous legal technicality; claiming the matter is subjudice; after the expiration of a patently illegal 6-month suspension, is the height of legislative bad faith, it is a cynical ploy that reveals a sinister agenda to silence dissent, crush opposition, and manipulate the judiciary as a tool of political persecution.
The NLC said the action led by the leadership of Senator Akpabio, constitutes a gross abuse of power that shames the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly and spits on the collective will of the people of Kogi Central who elected Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The la6bour movement stated further that the action is a direct attack on the Nigerian people, it is a declaration by a privileged political elite that they are not accountable to the citizens they purport to serve, by willfully disenfranchising an entire senatorial district, the Senate is effectively stealing the politicyal representation for which the people pay taxes.
Editor: Ken Eseni
