Tension gripped the Senate on Monday as Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, protested what she described as the continued curtailment of her legislative rights in the 10th Senate.

The lawmaker raised the alarm following her alleged omission from the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, who arrived at the committee meeting prepared to participate, was said to have discovered that her name was missing from the official attendance list.

Sources at the meeting disclosed that the senator immediately sought clarification from the Committee Clerk but was informed that the official was in the office of the Committee Chairman, Senator Titus Tartenger Zam.

She reportedly proceeded to the Chairman’s office, where an exchange ensued.

The Kogi Central senator later alleged that the Chairman told her his action was based on directives from unnamed higher authorities.

Expressing displeasure, Akpoti-Uduaghan described the development as part of a recurring pattern of marginalisation.

She maintained that all senators are constitutionally equal in status and mandate, questioning the basis for her exclusion from a committee whose work directly impacts the North Central geopolitical zone she represents.

The situation allegedly escalated when aides attached to the Chairman confronted members of her media team.

The senator claimed that about six aides, including the Chairman’s secretary, seized the phone of her cinematographer and engaged in verbal hostility.

She described the action as unacceptable and beneath the dignity of the Senate.

Reaffirming her commitment to fairness and institutional integrity, Akpoti-Uduaghan insisted that her protest was anchored on the mandate given to her by the people of Kogi Central.

She vowed to continue to demand equitable treatment whenever her legislative rights are undermined.

The incident has since sparked conversations within parliamentary circles, with observers calling for strict adherence to legislative procedures and transparency in the administration of committees in the 10th National Assembly.

The State Security Service, SSS, has filed a three-count charge against former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over the alleged interception of a telephone conversation involving the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu.

The charges were filed on Monday at the Federal High Court, Abuja division, by counsel representing the SSS.

According to court documents sighted by reporters, the secret police accused Mr El-Rufai of unlawfully intercepting and recording a private telephone conversation allegedly belonging to Ribadu without authorisation, an action said to be contrary to national security laws and other relevant statutes.

The prosecution alleged that the offence was committed earlier this year and described the act as “a deliberate and unauthorised interference with protected communication channels.”

In one of the counts, the SSS claimed that the former governor “knowingly procured the interception of a classified communication” and thereby committed an offence punishable under the law.

Another count reportedly accused him of retaining and possibly disseminating the intercepted material.

Although the full details of the alleged interception were not immediately made public, a source within the security agency said the action was considered “a grave breach with potential implications for national security.”

“No individual, regardless of status, is above the law. The charges reflect the seriousness of tampering with secure communications,” the source stated.

The trial of former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, resumed before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, yesterday with a prosecution witness, Mr. Richard Agulu, a former banker, testifying that he never received any money directly from the defendant.

The witness, who was hitherto a staff member of Zenith Bank Plc, but currently works at the Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, told the court that he only had interactions with Emefiele’s Personal Assistant, Mr. Eric Ocheme.

“I never received a dime directly from the defendant. I received the funds through his personal assistant, Eric Ocheme,” the witness insisted while he was being cross-examined by Emefiele’s lawyer, Mr. Matthew Burkaa.

Asked to confirm that he never saw the defendant giving his PA any money to give to him, the witness, said: “My lord I have never seen that, but he passes instructions through phone calls through Ocheme for me.”

However, when he was shown an extrajudicial statement he made on the case, the witness admitted that he never mentioned that the defendants gave instructions through phone.

“I can not see anywhere I said phone, but I said it was by his instructions,” the witness added.

His extra-judicial statement was admitted in evidence and marked as Exhibit G.

Mr. Agulu who mounted the box as the third prosecution witness (PW-3), told the court that some of the transactions he referenced in his earlier testimony, were authenticated by the owners of Kelvito Integrated Services, Chukwuma Okpala and Ifeadigo Integrated Services, Peter Adebayo.

“It was with their instructions that the transaction was effected by the bank,” and the instructions were carried out by banking instruments, cheques.

“The defendant gives instructions to me through his personal assistant (Eric),” he stated.
According to the PW-3, the instructions he got through Ocheme were the banking instrument he worked on to carry out the transactions.

He said the instructions were not in the form of cheques, letters, email, or text.

The witness however admitted that going by CBN’s guidelines, as well as the operational manual policies of Zenith Bank, a staff member was only permitted to honour instructions an account holder gives through a formal communication, cheques, or the customer being present at the bank.

He stressed that neither Emefiele nor Ocheme was the account holder, a reason he said led him to include the owners’ names in the deposit slip anytime he deposited cash into their accounts.