Senate spokesman expresses support for Akpabio, says “parliament enjoys absolute privilege”
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Senate spokesman Yemi Adaramodu has expressed support for Godswill Akpabio in his legal tango with Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central) who filed a N100.3 billion defamation lawsuit against the Senate President.
The suit is a fallout of the clash between her and Akpabio last week over the relocation of her seat in the Upper Chamber.
Akpabio, a member of the All Progressives Congress (PDP), previously had a confrontation with Natasha in the Chamber, telling her that “we are not in a nightclub.” He later apologised, saying his remark was inappropriate.
Natasha, a lawyer by profession, alleged in the suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja that after the latest altercation, Akpabio’s aide made defamatory statements about her in a Facebook post.
However, Adaramodu told The PUNCH that Natasha would end up nowhere because “the parliament enjoys absolute privilege.”
He insisted that “We are not aware of any suit for now but let me state here that the parliament enjoys absolute privilege in the conduct of its affairs and what it does in proper legislative setting is not actionable. This is all we can say for now.”
Natasha and Akpabio engaged in a heated verbal exchange during plenary last week when the Kogi lawmaker protested the relocation of her seat.
Akpabio asked Senate security to walk her out of the Chamber but fellow lawmakers’ intervention saved the situation from degenerating out of hand.
Later in an interview on Channels Television Adaramodu berated Natasha for confronting Akpabio, telling the first-time lawmaker that the Senate is not for theatrics.
“What we are saying is that the National Assembly is not for content creation in entertainment. The National Assembly is for serious business,” he stressed.
The suit filed on February 25 accused Akpabio of defamation and joined as co-defendants the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Akpabio’s Senior Legislative Aide Mfon Patrick.
Natasha through her lawyer Victor Giwa alleged that defamatory statements were made by Akpabio and published by his aide on Facebook.
Giwa said the post, titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?” included a statement suggesting that she believed being a lawmaker is only about “pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the Chambers.”
Giwa argued that the statement is defamatory, provocative, and disparaging, lowering his client’s dignity in the eyes of her colleagues and the public.
Natasha is seeking, among others,
- “A declaration that the words, ‘It is bottled anger by the Kogi lawmaker, who knows nothing about legislative rules. She thinks being a lawmaker is all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers,’ used and written by the third defendant at the prompting of the first and second defendants, is defamatory and intended to cause public opprobrium and disaffection toward the claimant.
- “An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, whether acting by themselves or through their agents, privies, assigns, or associates, from further publishing or causing to be published the said defamatory words or any similar publications about the claimant on social media or in any other manner capable of defaming her.
- “An order for the payment of the sum of N100,000,000,000 as general damages. An order for the payment of the sum of N300,000,000 as the cost of action.”
The court is yet to fix a date for the hearing.
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