Justice Nyako had found the Kogi Central senator guilty of contempt and ordered her to pay a punitive fine of N5 million and tender a public apology in two national dailies and on her Facebook page.

The Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has revealed that the judgment delivered on July 4, 2025, by Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako, never ordered Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to tender a public apology to the Senate but to the court for alleged contempt.

Justice Nyako had found the Kogi Central senator guilty of contempt and ordered her to pay a punitive fine of N5 million and tender a public apology in two national dailies and on her Facebook page.

Justice Nyako issued the order while ruling on the case filed by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who challenged her suspension by the Senate. 

The judge also asked the Senate to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan and “allow her to resume representing the people who sent her to represent them.”

However, a report by The Nation Newspaper on July 5, quoted the Chairman of Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Adeyemi Adaramodu, as saying that the Senate could only consider recalling Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan after she tendered the apology as ordered by the court.

Adaramodu was quoted as saying, “The court has not ousted the Senate’s statutory right to punish any erring senator.

“It was established that the senator in question erred. The court has already told her to go and do some things, like restitution, so after the restitution, the Senate will now sit again and consider the content of that restitution, and that will inform our next line of action.

“The onus is no more on us now; it is already on her doorstep to go and apologise. Once she does that, then the Senate will sit and determine how to deal with her matter.

“The first reaction now will not be from us. The court has ruled, so once she takes the step to redress and does what the court has directed her to do, then the Senate will sit and look at the content of her reaction as prescribed by the court.”

Adaramodu’s reported condition implied that the apology, which is to the court, is a prerequisite for the Senate’s reinstatement of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.

However, the CTC of the court judgment obtained by SaharaReporters on Friday showed that the apology was strictly to the court for Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s alleged contempt of a subsisting order, according to the court.

The CTC dated July 11, 2025, was issued by the Registrar of the court, Kanu, Ngozi and signed by Ifeanacho Amarachi.

According to the CTC, there is no part of the judgment where the court either ordered Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan to tender public or private apology to the Senate nor did the judge make the lawmaker’s ordered apology to the court as a condition for her recall by the Senate.

The court order, which was order number 2 read, “That having found that the Plaintiff acted in breach of this court’s subsisting order, the Plaintiff must take responsibility for her action and remedy same.

“Thus, an order is hereby made for the Plaintiff to pay a fine in the sum of N5 million to the Federal Government Treasury and to publish a public apology to the court in two (2) national dailies and on her Facebook page within 7 days of today to purge herself of the contempt.”

Meanwhile, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan has formally challenged the N5 million fine imposed on her by the Court for the alleged contempt.

The federal lawmaker argued that the trial judge lacked the legal power to punish a comment made outside the courtroom on her Facebook page.

In a notice of appeal obtained by SaharaReporters on Friday, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan is asking the Court of Appeal to overturn the entire decision of Justice Nyako delivered on July 4.