Natasha fights in Senate over exclusion from North Central Development Commission Committee
Proceedings in the Senate were briefly disrupted on Monday after Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan openly challenged her alleged exclusion from the North Central Development Commission (NCDC) committee, describing the development as an attempt to sideline her from matters affecting the region she represents.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central, arrived at the committee meeting prepared to participate in proceedings but discovered that her name was missing from the official attendance list.
Seeking clarification, she approached the committee clerk and was told he was in the office of Titus Zam, chairman of the committee. The senator subsequently proceeded to Zam’s office, where she later alleged that the chairman said his actions were based on “instructions from higher authorities,” without offering further explanation.
The development sparked a confrontation, with Akpoti-Uduaghan questioning the procedural and constitutional grounds for her exclusion from a committee whose mandate directly impacts the North Central geopolitical zone.
“All senators are constitutionally equal in status, authority and mandate,” she said, insisting that no lawmaker should be treated as inferior. In a viral video circulating online, the Kogi senator declared: “I will not watch any senator here undermine my people. I will not have that. No senator here is worth more than my people. I will not tolerate that. I will not be undermined.”
She further alleged that tensions escalated when aides attached to the committee chairman confronted members of her media team. According to her, about six aides, including the chairman’s secretary, seized her cinematographer’s phone and engaged in verbal hostility.
Describing the incident as unacceptable, Akpoti-Uduaghan reaffirmed her commitment to fairness and institutional integrity, stressing that her actions were in defence of the mandate given to her by the people of Kogi Central.
