A legal practitioner, Ken Harries, says Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan cannot enforce a judgment of the lower court in which she has filed an appeal.
The senior lawyer stated this in Abuja in reaction to the Kogi Central senator’s alleged invasion of the National Assembly (NASS) on Tuesday to resume her legislative duties.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan had, on Tuesday, stormed NASS, along with her teeming supporters, claiming to want to enforce the judgment of the Federal High Court (FHC) sitting in Abuja, which she claimed ordered her recall.
The lawmaker had, recently, filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, challenging the judgment of Justice Binta Nyako of FHC which found her guilty of contempt and imposed a fine of N5 million.
The senator, in her appeal, prayed the appellate court to set aside the judgment delivered on July 4 on the grounds that it was legally flawed, procedurally defective and amounted to a miscarriage of justice.
Reacting to the development on Tuesday, Harries accused Akpoti-Uduaghan “of seeking to eat her cake and still have it by appealing the July 4 judgment and still attempting to enforce the same judgment.”
The lawyer wondered if taking law into one’s hands, as allegedly shown by Akpoti-Uduaghan’s conduct, was the right way to enforce a judgment.
“In my many years in legal practice, I have not seen such a display of lawlessness from a supposed federal lawmaker.
“How do you invade the National Assembly with a group of touts, claiming to want to enforce a judgment?
“There are procedures for judgment enforcement.
“It is not for an individual to take the law into his or her own hands, create a crisis atmosphere on the pretext of wanting to enforce a judgment,” Harries said.
He recalled that Akpoti-Uduaghan filed an appeal against the judgment about a week ago, faulting the judgment and praying the Court of Appeal to set it aside.
Harries, who queried the rationale behind Akpoti-Uduaghan’s decision to invade the National Assembly, sought to know what judgment she was seeking to enforce.
“How do you enforce a judgment that you have said you are not satisfied with, condemned, appealed and prayed the Court of Appeal to reverse?
“Assuming the judgment is still enforceable, has she complied with all the orders made against her, including that she pay N5 million and publish public apology in two newspapers and her Facebook page?
“If she has failed to obey the same judgment by not complying with the orders made against her, what moral standing does she have to accused the leadership of the Senate of being lawless?
“Her lawyers should be in a better position to advise her to learn to be lawful and respect the rule of law,” he said.
According to Harries, whoever goes to equity must go with clean hands.(NAN)
