Nigeria\u2019s democracy is under fire, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) isn\u2019t mincing words. In a blistering rebuke of the Senate, the NLC has accused the Godswill Akpabio-led upper chamber of plunging the country into a \u201clegislative dictatorship\u201d following its continued barring of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming her duties\u2014months after her suspension legally expired.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued by NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, the union described the Senate\u2019s actions as a \u201cpremeditated assault on democracy\u201d, warning that the ongoing persecution of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan is not only unconstitutional but \u201cmorally reprehensible\u201d and a direct threat to the sovereignty of Nigerian voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is no longer democracy,\u201d the statement thundered. \u201cThis is fascism in legislative robes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NLC lambasted the Senate for what it called a \u201ccynical ploy\u201d to silence dissent and manipulate legal processes, slamming its refusal to reinstate the Kogi Central Senator even after a court voided her suspension. Citing flimsy legal technicalities and hiding behind sub judice claims, the NLC says the Senate\u2019s conduct reeks of \u201clegislative bad faith\u201d and exposes a disturbing willingness to \u201ccrush opposition\u201d at any cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy willfully disenfranchising an entire senatorial district, the Senate is effectively stealing the political representation for which the people pay taxes,\u201d Ajaero said.<\/p>\n
The six-month suspension\u2014already declared illegal by the courts\u2014was set to expire, but rather than honor the rule of law, the Senate has allegedly chosen to defy it, leaving Akpoti-Uduaghan in political limbo and the people of Kogi Central voiceless in national affairs.<\/p>\n
The NLC went further, warning that the move is a \u201ctest-run\u201d for broader political repression as the country eyes the 2027 general elections. It accused the National Assembly leadership of attempting to purge voices of \u201cintegrity and honour\u201d from the system in what it described as a \u201cwar on representative democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The labour union, which represents millions across Nigeria, has vowed to take action, threatening mass mobilization if Akpoti-Uduaghan is not reinstated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Nigerian people, united across ethnic and religious lines, will not stand idly by while you cannibalise our democracy,\u201d the NLC warned. \u201cAn attack on one senator today is an attack on the sovereignty of every Nigerian voter tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the NLC now actively circling the wagons, pressure is mounting on Senate President Akpabio and the leadership of the National Assembly to back down from what many are now calling a dangerous flirtation with authoritarianism.<\/p>\n
For now, the political temperature continues to rise, and all eyes remain fixed on the Senate chamber \u2014 where democracy, it seems, is on trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria\u2019s democracy is under fire, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) isn\u2019t mincing words. In a blistering rebuke of the Senate, the NLC has accused the Godswill Akpabio-led upper chamber of plunging the country into a \u201clegislative dictatorship\u201d following its continued barring of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming her duties\u2014months after her suspension legally expired. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":93197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[5542,22,60],"class_list":["post-95052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-politics","tag-ajaero","tag-akpabio","tag-natasha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}