Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Senate, has cleared himself of any wrongdoing in relation to Senator Abdul Ningi’s removal from the Red Chamber.On March 14, 2024, the Senate suspended Ningi, the senator for the Bauchi Central senatorial district, after he accused the Senate leadership of inflating the federal budget for 2024 in an interview with the BBC.

Falana says that Akpabio

Femi Falana, SAN, a right-wing activist and Ningi’s attorney, has written to the Senate president requesting that Akpabio quickly overturn Ningi’s suspension.

“We have carefully read through your analysis of the facts and circumstances leading to your client’s suspension from the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” stated Akpabio through his attorney, Chief Umeh Kalu, SAN of Nigeria, and we are unable to understand your conclusion that our client is solely responsible for the aforementioned ban.It was the Senate in plenary session, not Senator Akpabio, who made the decision and passed the resolution to suspend Senator Ningi.

In addition to the previously mentioned, the language of your letter under reference states that our client was never your client’s accuser, prosecutor, or judge.

Our client’s role was and remains the statutory task of a Legislative House Presiding Officer, which equally includes stating the Senate’s agenda during the Senate session that led to your client’s suspension. Legislative House’s majority decision at the conclusion of discussion and voting.

“Permit us to bring up your endeavor to illustrate our client’s reference to legal authorities and rulings from our courts of record regarding the unconstitutionality of suspending members of the Legislative Houses. We dare say that this attempt was unsuccessful because you either failed to provide the pertinent details of the aforementioned court decisions in your letter, or you chose not to provide them.

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“You might want to supply the legal authorities you mentioned, keeping in mind that each court judgment is based on the particular facts, circumstances, and laws that are in place at the time.

In response to your threats of a court action and petition to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, it may not be necessary to list every remedy accessible to our client here; nonetheless, it is crucial to note that legislative processes are led by  regulations and that lawmakers are entitled to specific benefits for their work during legislative sessions.

We also ask that you give careful thought to the legal issues raised in this letter and be guided accordingly in your further and future actions regarding this matter, even though our client is a lawyer by profession and does not sit and preside over Senate sessions in his capacity as a lawyer or in the course of his legal practice.