TENSIONS flared at the National Assembly on Monday after Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central) accused the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission (NCDC), Senator Titus Zam (APC, Benue North-West), of deliberately sidelining her from a crucial budget defence session.
The incident, which unfolded at the Senate wing, has raised fresh questions about legislative inclusion and internal democracy within the upper chamber.
In a detailed post on her verified Facebook wall on Monday evening, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan recounted how she was excluded from the NCDC’s 2026 budget defence, a meeting she only became aware of when it was nearly over.
According to the Kogi Central lawmaker, she arrived at the National Assembly to find members of the NCDC management leaving the complex.
“I became aware of the meeting barely twenty minutes before it ended. By the time I arrived at the National Assembly, I met members of the NCDC management exiting the Senate Complex,” the Senator’s post read.
According to her, she proceeded to the committee’s meeting room, Room 431, but was informed by staff that the session had concluded.
What began as a complaint about a lack of notification quickly escalated into a serious allegation of procedural manipulation. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan stated that upon questioning her exclusion, she was initially told it was likely an “oversight” by the committee clerk. However, a review of the official attendance register suggested a more deliberate action.
“Upon requesting the attendance register, I discovered that my name was not even listed among senators from the North Central zone,” she revealed, adding: “This was not a mere oversight. It was a deliberate omission of record.”
The situation intensified when the Senator proceeded to the Chairman’s office to confront Senator Zam. She detailed raising several points of concern: the lack of notification and invitation, the exclusion of her name from the committee register, and her absence from the Senate’s official NCDC communication platform.
In response, Senator Zam, according to Akpoti-Uduaghan’s account, defended the action by stating that membership on the committee is not automatic for every senator from the geopolitical zone and that he operates under specific “protocols and instructions.”
The confrontation took a further dramatic turn when the Senator alleged that a phone used by her staff to document the exchange in the Chairman’s office was seized.
“As I left his office, I was informed that the phone my staff used to document the exchange had been seized and handed over to the Chairman,” she stated. She insisted on its immediate return, describing the incident as part of a broader effort to undermine her work.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan framed her exclusion not as a personal slight, but as a marginalisation of her entire constituency. “Let it be clearly understood: exclusion will not silence me,” she declared.
She noted: “I confronted what I consider a deliberate attempt to sideline me — and by extension, the people of Kogi Central — from a critical budgetary process directly affecting our district.”
The Senator pointed to a “pattern of calculated actions” aimed at frustrating her work since her return to the Senate but vowed to remain undeterred.
Her post underscores a growing friction between her office and the established legislative structure, raising questions about how committee memberships are determined and how information is disseminated, particularly regarding vital issues like zonal development.
“I will continue to pursue every lawful avenue to ensure that Kogi Central receives its fair share of socio-economic development,” Akpoti-Uduaghan stated.
“No district should be excluded. No voice should be suppressed. No mandate should be diminished,” she further noted.
