During the heated plenary session that led to the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, representing Abia North Senatorial District, made a case for empathy towards her aides, urging the Senate to amend a recommendation that called for the withholding of their salaries and wages, ABN TV reports.
The Ethics and Public Petitions Committee had recommended that, along with Senator Natasha’s six-month suspension, all financial entitlements, including salaries and allowances, be withheld—not just for the senator but also for her aides.
However, Senator Kalu took a stand against this, emphasizing that the affected aides were innocent and should not be punished for an offence they did not commit.
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“We cannot punish the aides of Senator Natasha for an offence they did not commit,” Kalu stated on the Senate floor. “They are staff of the National Assembly, and they have no other farm or means of livelihood apart from the salaries they earn from the Senate. As such, it will be wrong for us as a Senate to deny them and their families their salaries.”
The former Abia State governor, now a distinguished senator, passionately moved for an amendment to the recommendation, urging his colleagues to allow the affected staff to continue receiving their salaries despite their principal’s suspension.
While the Senate upheld the suspension of Senator Natasha, deliberations on Kalu’s plea gained attention, sparking discussions on the fairness of extending punitive measures to legislative aides who played no direct role in the senator’s alleged infractions.
The final decision on the proposed amendment remains pending, but Kalu’s intervention has drawn reactions from various quarters, with some commending his stance on protecting the welfare of National Assembly staff.
