Human rights activist Aisha Yesufu has declared her readiness to accompany embattled Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to the National Assembly today, Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in a bold show of solidarity.
Yesufu made the declaration during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, warning the Senate against continued defiance of court rulings and what she described as the systemic marginalization of women in Nigerian politics.
“I think Senator Natasha has every right to resume office, and by tomorrow, she is not going to resume alone,” Yesufu stated. “There are people who are going to go with her, and I’ll be one of them. If the Senate decides they are going to kill us, let them kill us.”
Her comments follow a recent Federal High Court judgment by Justice Binta Nyako, which ruled the Senate’s suspension of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan as unconstitutional. The lawmaker, representing Kogi Central, was suspended on March 6, 2025, after a heated exchange over Senate seat allocations and allegations of sexual misconduct against Senate President Godswill Akpabio — claims he has since denied.
Despite the court’s ruling, the Senate, through its legal team, has appealed the judgment, arguing that the judiciary has no authority over internal legislative matters. The Red Chamber has insisted that the suspension stands and that Akpoti-Uduaghan must wait for the six-month term to expire.
But the senator has remained defiant. Speaking in Ihima, her hometown in Kogi State, she reiterated her intention to resume legislative duties on July 22.
“I’ve written to the Senate again, telling them that I’m resuming on the 22nd, which is Tuesday, by the special grace of God. I will be there because the court did make a decision on that. They may argue that it’s not an order, but it is a decision,” she said.
Yesufu criticized the Senate’s continued resistance, describing it as a dangerous precedent for democracy and gender equity.
“We are not even one-third [of the Senate]. Out of 109 senators, only four are women. Yet, you’re going after this particular lady who has done nothing other than discharge her duties as she should,” she said.
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She also condemned the judiciary, alleging that it has increasingly become submissive to political pressure.
“The judiciary, which should be the last hope of the common man, is now a pawn in the hands of corrupt politicians. Even when judgments are delivered, they look at the body language of those dictating what should be written,” she lamented.
