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Senate vs. Natasha Akpoti: Abuja Court Fixes June 27 For Judgment
A legal showdown between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Nigerian Senate is heading toward a decisive ruling, as the Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed June 27, 2025, to deliver judgment in the matter.
The suit, filed by the senator representing Kogi Central, seeks to invalidate her six-month suspension from the Senate.
On Tuesday, Justice Binta Nyako reserved judgment after listening to final arguments from all parties involved.
Listed as defendants in the case are the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Senate, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Senator Nedamwen Imasuen, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions.
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Led by senior lawyer Jubril Okutekpa, SAN, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan has argued that the suspension violated a subsisting court order and should therefore be declared null and void.
The Senate, however, pushed back, asserting that the issue is an internal legislative matter beyond the court’s jurisdiction.
Furthermore, the defendants accused the lawmaker of flouting an April 4 order of the court that barred all parties from making public statements about the case.
In court, counsel to Senate President Akpabio, Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, cited what he called “a satirical apology” that the senator posted on Facebook. According to Ogunwumiju, the post made “a mockery of the order of the court.”
Justice Nyako, before adjourning, said she would first address the issue of contempt raised by both sides before ruling on other objections. She described the legal questions in the case as “recondite issues of law” requiring judicial interpretation.
The dispute has its roots in a plenary session on February 20, when Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan challenged what she described as an arbitrary change to her seating position.
Despite being repeatedly overruled by Senate President Akpabio, she insisted on raising points of order — an action that led to her referral to the Ethics Committee.
The matter escalated when, in a February 28 television interview, the senator claimed her ordeal began after she rebuffed alleged personal advances from the Senate President.
In response, she filed an ex-parte motion before the Federal High Court, seeking protection from the Senate’s disciplinary action.
The court, then presided over by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, issued interim orders on March 4 halting the Senate’s planned proceedings against her.
Among the orders was a directive preventing the Senate Committee from continuing its investigation, and compelling the defendants to explain within 72 hours why an interlocutory injunction should not be granted.
The court ruled: “An order of Interim Injunction of this Honourable Court is made restraining the 2nd Defendant/Defendant’s Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct, headed by the 4th Defendant, from proceeding with the purported investigation against the Plaintiff/Applicant for alleged misconduct, sequel to the events that occurred at the plenary of the 2nd Defendant on the 20th day of February 2025, pursuant to the referral by the 2nd Defendant on the 25th of February 2025, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction.”
The judge also ordered the service of court documents by substituted means: “…by serving same through the 1st Defendant (Clerk of the National Assembly) or pasting same on the premises of the National Assembly and publishing same in two national dailies.”
However, despite these orders, the Senate Committee proceeded with its inquiry and eventually suspended the senator for six months.
In a later ruling, Justice Egwuatu amended his initial order by lifting the restriction on the Senate’s activities while the case remained unresolved.
Soon after, the Senate President filed a motion challenging the authority of the court to interfere in legislative matters.
He also accused Justice Egwuatu of bias, prompting the judge to recuse himself on March 25.
The case was then reassigned to Justice Nyako.
The Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) gas pipeline is ready for first gas, while the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline has reached 95 percent completion.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) disclosed this in its July 2026 monthly report, adding that pre-commissioning activities at the OB3 River Niger Crossing had been completed in August in preparation for first gas.
In the NNPC Ltd report, OB3 was put at 100 percent, and AKK at 95 percent complete. “OB3 River Niger Crossing: Pipeline pre-commissioning activities completed in readiness for First Gas in August 2026,” the report stated.
On the AKK project, the national oil company said construction and installation works had reached an advanced stage, with the pipeline expected to deliver early gas to Abuja in 2026.
“AKK (Early Gas): Construction and installation works are at an advanced stage to deliver early gas to Abuja in 2026,” NNPC Ltd stated.
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The two projects form part of NNPC Ltd’s gas infrastructure development programme aimed at expanding gas transportation infrastructure.
The OB3 pipeline is designed to connect gas supplies across the eastern and western parts of the country, while the AKK pipeline is being developed to transport gas to Abuja and onwards to northern parts of Nigeria.
However, the July report did not provide further details on the expected capacity or commissioning date of the AKK pipeline beyond stating that early gas would be delivered to Abuja in 2026.
Earlier in April, the NNPC Ltd announced that it had completed the long-anticipated River Niger crossing of the OB3 gas pipeline, unlocking a critical segment of the country’s gas transmission network and paving the way for increased supply to power plants and industries.
The feat, delivered by the NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company, a subsidiary of NNPC Ltd, involved drilling approximately two kilometres beneath the River Niger using advanced horizontal directional drilling technology, a method deployed in complex engineering terrains.
Announcing the development in a statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC, Andy Odeh, the company said the milestone effectively activates the full capacity of the 130-kilometre OB3 pipeline, designed to transport up to 2 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day.
The pipeline is to significantly strengthen energy availability, enhance supply reliability, and accelerate national economic development.
The company noted that the completion would, in the near term, unlock over 500 million standard cubic feet per day of additional gas supply for the domestic market, with positive implications for electricity generation, manufacturing, and exports.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bayo Ojulari, noted that the OB3 pipeline remains central to Nigeria’s ambition of building an integrated and resilient gas network.
“I commend everyone involved for their doggedness and for staying the course to deliver this strategic national asset,” he said.
Ojulari also linked the project to the Federal Government’s broader energy targets, including plans to increase crude oil production to 3 million barrels per day and gas output to 12 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2030.
Started in 2016, the $700m OB3 pipeline has missed several completion deadlines before this latest announcement.
The Federal Government has come under scrutiny for not doing enough to ensure that prices in the oil industry are kept within the reach of ordinary people, by ensuring that local refineries get adequate crude supplies from the domestic oil industry.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) lamented that Nigeria’s leading domestic refiner, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals (DPRP) gets inadequate supplies of crude from the local oil industry, while the government watches helplessly.
The acting General Secretary of the NLC, Benson Upah, was cited by The Punch as taking the stance in an interview on Tuesday, while reacting to the latest increase in petrol prices.
Upah was reacting to the latest increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, and was emphatic that the upward review of price was both “avoidable and unacceptable” because the development would further compound the economic difficulties confronting ordinary Nigerians, particularly workers and low-income households already struggling with high transportation, food and other living costs.
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He said, “This adds to the increasing difficulties of the average Nigerian for whom life has been Hobbesian.”
The labour leader argued that the latest increase was difficult to justify, particularly against the backdrop of developments in the international oil market and Nigeria’s growing domestic refining capacity.
According to him, “The latest increase is avoidable and unacceptable in light of falling prices in the international market and our local capacity to sell more crude oil to Dangote. Why are we not doing so?”
The NLC’s reaction came against the backdrop of another increase in the price of petrol by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which has triggered fresh concerns among motorists, transport operators and businesses already grappling with high operating costs.
The refinery raised its petrol gantry price by N65 per litre on Saturday, moving it from N1,200 to N1,265 per litre. The latest adjustment came only three days after the company increased the price from N1,185 to N1,200 per litre.
It was the third price adjustment by the refinery in eight days. On August 21, the company had raised its gantry price from N1,165 to N1,185 per litre. In all, the three adjustments have added N100 to the price of petrol at the refinery’s gantry, representing an 8.6 per cent increase within just eight days.
The latest increase has since begun to reverberate across the downstream market, with petrol prices varying from one location to another as marketers factor in transportation, logistics and other distribution costs.
In some parts of Lagos and Ogun, petrol has been reported at about N1,310 per litre, while prices in some northern states and areas farther from the refinery have climbed to N1,350 and above. In some locations, the product is approaching N1,400 per litre.
The renewed price increase is coming at a particularly sensitive time for Nigerians, many of whom are still struggling with the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy in 2023.
The subsidy removal fundamentally altered the petroleum pricing regime, exposing consumers to movements in crude oil prices, foreign exchange rates and other market costs. Petrol prices, which were previously heavily regulated by the government, have since undergone several increases, with each adjustment feeding into the cost of transportation and other essential goods and services.
The latest development has also revived an old but unresolved question in Nigeria’s petroleum sector: why does a crude-producing country with a major new refinery still face persistent pressure on petrol prices?
The question has become more prominent with the emergence of the DPRP, which has a capacity to process in excess of 650,000 barrels of crude oil daily and was expected to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported refined petroleum products.
But while the refinery has ramped up production, securing adequate quantities of Nigerian crude has remained a contentious issue.
OPay has called for an investigation by the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force over a viral social media rumour claiming that the fintech company was shutting down its operations in Nigeria.
OPay’s Chief Legal Counsel, Akinfolabi Rokosu, disclosed this on Wednesday during a press conference organised by the company.
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Rokosu said the DSS and police were among the law enforcement agencies investigating the circulation of the false information, adding that OPay had provided evidence to help identify those responsible.
“While the DSS and the Nigeria police, among the relevant law enforcement agencies, are currently and intensively investigating this matter, we are fully cooperating with the ongoing investigations being conducted and have provided the necessary evidence to identify those responsible for it,” he said.
He added that OPay would take legal action against individuals responsible for creating and circulating the information.
“Opay is taking action against those responsible for creating and circulating this harmful information. We will pursue them and will ensure that the law is fully enforced,” Rokosu said.
Also speaking, OPay’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technical Officer, Dotun Adekunle, reassured customers that the company remained operational and had no plans to leave Nigeria.
“OPay is here, OPay is operating, and OPay is going nowhere,” he said.
Adekunle described the circulating message as false and noted that the alleged shutdown date mentioned in the message had already passed.
“The message that is circulating online is false. It did not come from OPay. There is no decision from OPay or by OPay to shut down its operations in Nigeria, and there is no indefinite leave,” he said.
He urged customers not to make financial decisions based on unverified messages shared on social media or messaging platforms.
The controversy followed a viral notice claiming that OPay would suspend its Nigerian operations from September 1, 2026, and advising customers to withdraw their funds to avoid losing access to their accounts.
OPay had earlier dismissed the notice as false and urged customers to rely on its official communication channels for accurate information.
The fintech also asked an X user who shared information about the alleged shutdown to retract the post and apologise. The user subsequently deleted the post and apologised.
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