Nigeria, Feb. 9 -- The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday upheld the Senate's power to suspend the senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, over misconduct in March last year.

In a unanimous decision, a three-member panel of judges ruled that neither Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan's parliamentary privileges nor her constitutional rights were violated by the suspension.

The court, however, vacated the N5 million fine imposed on her for civil contempt and set aside the entire contempt proceedings initiated against her following a satirical apology she made to Senate President Godswill Akpabio in a social media post.

In the lead lead judgement delivered by Abba Muhammed, the Court of Appeal held that the senate president acted wit...