In the ongoing rift between Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and female lawmaker, representing Kogi Central,
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, a former presidential spokesman, Laolu Akande, on Thursday, alleged that there were
gang up attempts by Senators to silence the female lawmaker
In the days past, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has strongly denied any sexual harassment that Senator Natasha
Akpoti-Uduaghan recently accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, of sexually harassing her, a claim the
latter has vehemently denied.
In an interview, Akande offered his thoughts on the matter and asked the Senate to prevent what he called a “gang up
against the lawmaker.
“They need to stop all these images, meetings, and ganging up against this woman. That has to stop. The leadership
of the Senate needs to show us that there is going to be a dispassionate consideration of her allegations,” he said.
“Once that is sorted, if you think that there is a need to punish her for violating the rules, it is the better way to handle
it. This idea of all of the men coming out and brandishing the rules is not looking pretty at all.
“This woman has said to the whole world that she has been sexually harassed. We have to be careful; the Nigerian
Senate has to be careful not to create an impression that we are trying to silence her.
“What we have seen so far is a lot of men holding meetings, speaking out, coming to the media to run this woman down. It is a poor reflection on the Nigerian Senate.”
Senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, on the other hand, has justified the Red Chamber and asserted that her colleague
Natasha was acting in her own best interests.
“Senator Natasha is claiming sexual harassment because she lost the chairmanship of local content and not that she
was harassed by Senator Akpabio or any other senator,” the lawmaker who represents Ebonyi North said on the same show.
He said, “Senator Natasha was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Content, which she felt she was
comfortable with. But in the Senate, from time to time, committee leadership is changed; reshuffled, and her
committee was affected like every other chairperson’s.
“She was shifted to the Senate Committee on Diaspora, which didn’t go down well with Senator Natasha.”
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Senator Natasha’s petition alleging sexual harassment and misuse of office against Akpabio was dismissed by the
Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions on Wednesday in light of the sexual harassment allegations.
Citing legal restrictions and procedural infractions, it ruled the claims “dead on arrival.
