just in: Akpabio swears in Natasha as Kogi Central Senator after protracted legal battle

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has sworn in Mrs Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as Senator representing Kogi Central after a protracted legal tussle.

The oath was administered to her by the Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Chinedu Akubueze, at about 11:41 am.

Akpoti-Uduaghan made it to the Nigerian upper chamber after the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Monday, affirmed that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party was the duly elected candidate for Kogi Central on February 25.

The court dismissed the appeal filed by Senator Abubakar Ohere for lacking merit.

Recall that the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Lokoja, the capital, had quashed election the victory of Ohere of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The court further stressed that Akpoti-Uduaghan was the actual winner of the February senatorial poll.

She has since joined up with her colleagues for legislative duties after the Senate President handed over to her a copy of the Senate Standing Rules.

Natasha Hadiza Akpoti (born 9 December 1979) ran for the post of Senator for Kogi Central Senatorial District under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the year 2019. She also contested in the 2019 Kogi State Gubernatorial Election which was held on 16 November 2019.

On 5 March 2022, she married the Alema of Warri, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan (not the ex-governor Emmanuel Uduaghan), in a ceremony at her native home in Ihima. Kogi State.