Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the unsealing of the office of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi central.

On Tuesday, the senate, through Alabi Adedeji, deputy director, sergeant-at-arms, reopened the office in suite 2.05 of the senate wing, paving the way for the lawmaker’s return to legislative duties.

The senator’s office had been under lock and key since she was suspended from the red chamber on March 6, 2025.

Akpoti-Uduaghan was debarred for six months over alleged breaches of the senate standing rules.

On July 4, the federal high court posited that the suspension was “excessive and unconstitutional”.

Despite the ruling, on September 9, the national assembly prevented Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming legislative duties, insisting that her suspension was still a subject of litigation.

In a statement, Abubakar said Nigerians can overcome tyranny if they stand united.

“It is reassuring that the voice of reason has prevailed at last with the unsealing of the office of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan,” the statement reads.

“Though the precious time denied the people of Kogi Central in the Senate can never be reclaimed, this struggle has not been in vain. It has proven, once again, that when we stand together, we can triumph over tyranny.”

Abubakar criticised President Bola Tinubu over the recently lifted emergency rule in Rivers, accusing the commander-in-chief of subverting Nigeria’s democracy.

“The suspension of Governor Simi Fubara and lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly, the unlawful suspension of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, and the weaponisation of state institutions to harass and intimidate opposition voices are not isolated acts,” Abubakar said.

“They are deliberate markers of the Tinubu administration’s strategy as 2027 approaches: to subvert our hard-earned democracy and compromise the will of the people at any cost.”

Abubakar said the opposition will do everything within the bounds of the law to protect the nation’s democracy, defend the sovereignty of the people’s mandate, and “rescue our nation from the grip of authoritarianism”.