Akpoti-Uduaghan had, in a letter dated August 28, notified
Yahaya Danzaria, the acting national assembly clerk, of her intention to resume
on September 4, the date she said marked the end of her six-month suspension.

On Tuesday, the national assembly prevented Akpoti-Uduaghan
from resuming legislative duties, insisting that her suspension is still a
subject of litigation.

In a statement on Thursday, Joe Ajaero, NLC president, said
the continued suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan is a “brazen, premeditated assault
on democracy” and a “dangerous slide towards fascism masquerading as
governance”.

Ajaero described the decision to bar the senator from
resuming constitutional duties as “morally reprehensible”, adding that the
action has deprived her constituents of proper representation.

“The senate’s pathetic recourse to a frivolous legal
technicality after the expiration of a patently illegal six-month suspension is
the height of legislative bad faith,” the statement reads.

“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 president said the refusal to obey a court ruling
voiding the suspension is a direct attack on the people of Kogi central.

He accused the senate of “stealing the political
representation” of the people, thereby disenfranchising them from lawmaking,
oversight and appropriation of national resources.

“This action is a calculated test run for the emasculation
of opposition and the subjugation of sovereign will as 2027 approaches,” Ajaero
said.

He warned that Nigerians will not “stand idly by while you
cannibalise our democracy”, adding that the labour movement will mobilise its
membership to resist any descent into autocracy.

“An attack on one senator today is an attack on the
sovereignty of every Nigerian voter tomorrow,” he added.

Meanwhile, Michael Numa, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN)
and counsel to Akpoti-Uduaghan, has asked Danzaria to facilitate her resumption
or face legal action.

In a letter dated September 10, Numa said the clerk’s claim
that her resumption is blocked by sub judice was a “misuse of the rule”.

In February, Akpoti-Uduaghan and Akpabio had a heated
exchange over a change in seating arrangements.

The upper legislative chamber later suspended the senator
for “gross misconduct”.

On July 22, all gates to the national assembly complex were
locked to prevent Akpoti-Uduaghan from entering the premises.