Deliberate Exclusion of Senator Natasha from NCDC panel an Assault on Democracy - Action Collective

A civil society organisation, Action Collective, has issued a blistering condemnation of the conduct of the Senate Committee session on the North Central Development Commission, describing the incident involving Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan as a “calculated affront to democratic representation and institutional transparency” that must not be ignored by Nigerians or the international community.
In a strongly worded statement released on Monday and signed by its National Coordinator, Mr Teddy Onyejuwe, the group accused the committee chaired by Senator Titus Zam of presiding over what it called a “procedural ambush” during its interface with the North Central Development Commission over the Commission’s 2026 budget proposal at the National Assembly.

Action Collective said the reported exclusion of Senator Akpoti Uduaghan from the meeting, despite representing Kogi Central, raises grave constitutional, ethical, and procedural concerns. According to the group, “any legislative proceeding that discusses developmental allocations affecting a district while its elected representative is deliberately omitted cannot be defended under any democratic doctrine known to civilised governance.”

The organisation noted that the explanation allegedly offered — that committee membership is determined by internal protocols — does not justify the failure to notify or list a senator from the affected zone, stressing that legislative transparency requires openness, not secrecy. It described the omission of her name from attendance records as “not merely suspicious but institutionally dangerous,” warning that such conduct erodes public confidence in parliament.

Action Collective further condemned what it termed the “disturbing seizure” of a staff member’s phone reportedly used to document the exchange, calling it “an unacceptable act of intimidation inconsistent with democratic norms and legislative ethics.” The group insisted that any attempt to suppress documentation of public proceedings amounts to an attack on accountability.

“The Senate must immediately clarify whether this exclusion was administrative negligence or a deliberate political strategy,” Onyejuwe stated. “If it is the latter, then Nigeria is witnessing a troubling descent into legislative gatekeeping where certain voices are systematically filtered out of national decision-making processes.”

The statement emphasised that development commissions are funded with public resources and therefore cannot operate in a manner that appears selective or exclusionary. It warned that sidelining elected representatives during budget deliberations affecting their constituencies undermines federal equity and violates the spirit of representative governance.

Action Collective urged the Senate leadership to launch an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the meeting, disclose attendance protocols, and publish official communication logs relating to invitations. It also demanded a formal apology to the affected lawmaker and constituents if wrongdoing is established.

“The Senate must choose between institutional credibility and procedural impunity,” Onyejuwe declared. “Nigeria’s democracy cannot thrive where oversight becomes exclusion, participation becomes privilege, and representation becomes conditional.”

The group concluded by warning that civil society organisations would closely monitor subsequent actions of both the committee and the Commission, insisting that “no democratic institution has the moral authority to preach development while practising exclusion.”