More than a year after the Senate suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central), one of the committee members who supposedly recommended that punishment says she never saw the report.
Senator Ireti Kingibe, who represents the Federal Capital Territory, revealed this on Arise Television's Prime Time on Wednesday. Kingibe is a member of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions — the same body that investigated Akpoti-Uduaghan and recommended a six-month suspension in March 2025.
“I never saw the report that led to Natasha’s suspension,” Kingibe said. She explained that she was at a retreat alongside Senator Adams Oshiomhole (Edo North) when she first heard about the committee’s report.
“I had earlier stated that I was there with three or four other senators who are members of the committee. We attended the Committee on Petitions and Public Complaints, signed the attendance register, and I later left for the tax reform retreat, which I considered more important at the time,” Kingibe said.
She said she prioritised the tax reform retreat because it affects her constituents “much more than disciplining a senator.” She assumed the other committee members who stayed behind would handle the matter.
Kingibe also revealed that she complained bitterly to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe about not seeing the report. “I complained to him very bitterly that I had not seen that report. I didn’t see it then. I haven't seen it till now,” she said.
The Senate suspended Akpoti-Uduaghan in March 2025 after the Ethics Committee investigated allegations of gross misconduct and unruly behaviour against her. The suspension was for six months. But Kingibe's revelation raises serious questions about the process that led to that decision.
If a member of the committee that wrote the report never saw it, who actually wrote it? And how many other committee members were absent when the report was finalised?
Kingibe's comments are the first public admission from a committee member that the process wasn't transparent. She didn't say whether other absent senators also missed the report. But her statement suggests that the report may have been pushed through without proper input from all members.
“I didn’t see it then. I haven't seen it till now.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan has consistently denied the allegations of misconduct. She has accused the Senate leadership of targeting her for speaking out on issues affecting her constituents and for her confrontation with Senate President Godswill Akpabio over seating arrangements in the chamber.
Her suspension sparked widespread criticism from civil society groups and opposition politicians, who called it an undemocratic move. Some argued that the process was flawed from the start.
Kingibe's admission now gives weight to those criticisms. It shows that even the committee's own members weren't fully involved in the decision to suspend Akpoti-Uduaghan.
What happens next is unclear. The Senate hasn't revisited the suspension, and Akpoti-Uduaghan has since returned to the chamber after serving her six-month penalty. But the revelation that the report was never seen by a committee member could reopen the debate about whether her suspension was fair.
For now, Nigerians have a clearer picture of how the Senate handled one of its most controversial disciplinary actions in recent years. And it turns out that not everyone on the committee was even in the room.