Natasha Akpabio’s rift gets messier Natasha: Court-declared senators, Natasha slams N100bn suit on Akpabio, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a lawsuit against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, alleging defamation following a dispute over the reassignment of her Senate seat, Senator Natasha in another shouting match....Read Full Article >>➤
The cold war between the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, got messier on Friday as Natasha accused Senator Akpabio of making sexual advances at her. Senator Natasha made the allegation while speaking on an Arise TV programme, Morning Show, which was monitored by our correspondent.
During the penultimate week at plenary, the lawmaker had protested against the relocation of her seat from her original position on the second-to-the-last row of the minority section to the last row.
Senator Natasha had refused to use the seat allocated to her, citing Order 10 of the Senate Standing Rules which protects the privileges of members.
An irked Senate President Akpabio had called on the Senate security to walk Senator Natasha out of the chambers, but fellow lawmakers’ intervention prevented the situation from degenerating.
Senator Natasha has since been summoned to appear before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions.
The Kogi Central lawmaker alleged on the Arise TV programme that she was being victimised by the Senate President following her rebuff of sexual advances from him.
She said: “It all started on the 18th of December 2023, which was a day before his birthday and my birthday. We are birthday mates. We were all in Akwa Ibom because he had a big fanfare in the stadium. Myself, my husband and a few of his close friends, we went to Akwa Ibom and at first, we were at Ikot Ekpene, where his house is. Then we all moved to his house in Uyo. It was about 8pm and he held my hand and said he wanted to show me around his house.
“My husband was walking behind us; just the three of us. We were walking around from room to room. He showed me the beautiful interior.
“He noticed that he had to be spaced while still holding my hand. My husband was behind still on his phone, but he was watching up whenever he could and then he got to this particular sitting room and he said, ‘Do you like my house?’
“I said, ‘Of course, sir, every room; beautiful, nice interior; quality taste’. He said, ‘Now that you are a senator, I’m going to create time for us to come spend quality moments here. You will enjoy it’.
“At that point, I just pulled away and I was like, ‘I don’t really understand what exactly that meant’. But then my husband, when I turned around, was already near me, and the way my husband looked at me and looked at him, I was beginning to wonder, ‘did he hear part of that statement or not?’
“And then the Senate President, too, I saw that he also had that thought like, did my husband hear the invitation to treat or not?
“The Senate President now said, ‘Oh, by the way, let me show you my chapel. ’ He has a chapel in his house as well.
“So, to the chapel. I know we walked in silence and all. That evening, before we left the Senate President’s house at about 11pm for Four Point Hotel, my husband asked me, ‘Natasha, what did the Senate President tell you? What was he telling you?’
“I thought, ‘Should I tell him that he was speaking about bringing me in here at a special time for us to have a good time? Or should I just kill it there?’
“I just gave him some words to mask what was said. After, when we laid in bed to my right and my husband wrapped his hands around me and he said, ‘My love, you know you can tell me anything. What did the Senate President tell you?’ Again, I was like, ‘Don’t you believe me?’
“I said, ‘Nothing, nothing. Moreover, it’s my birthday in a few minutes, let’s just be happy.’
“Then he told me he didn’t want to see me travel out of the country alone and I should not go to the Senate President’s house because he had a guest house where many senators do go, ‘you know, after office to, like, get approvals and all that’, but I told him, ‘Okay, no problems’.
“That was it. I thought that was going to be the end but then, in fact, I wanted to move a motion. I wanted to move a motion for the investigation on the ills of Ajaokuta Steel Company. I listed that motion five times. It was the sixth time that it was listed on the order paper that it was approved. Many senators can testify to that.
“Each time the motion was listed, just before he took it, he would speak on others and then let it drag so that just before the motion was taken, the time would be well spent. So, he kept on doing that.
“I went to him in his office and I said, ‘Senate President, you know how important this Ajaokuta Steel Company is to me. You know how important it is to my people and to Nigerians. I’ve noticed that you have stepped down this motion’.
“As a matter of fact, a number of senators told me, ‘Go and see him’. I pleaded with him so that he would take it. I was like, ‘Sir, please, why can’t you take this motion? It’s very important. It’s been listed’. Then it was listed the third time. I stepped down. He then said, ‘Natasha, I’m the chief presiding officer of the Senate. You can enjoy a whole lot if you take care of me’.
“I said, ‘Sir, I’ll pretend that I didn’t hear this. ’ He said, ‘Well, the ball is in your court. ’
“I think I also spoke to the DSP, to the leader.
“You know the situation we see in universities whereby a student is continuously being failed just because she has not slept with the lecturer. That’s what I have been facing, in simple terms.”
On the sitting arrangement in the Red Chamber, which was the cause of the faceoff between her and the leadership of the Senate, Senator Natasha declared that Order 10 of the Senate Rules stipulates that a senator must speak from his or her seat but that when it comes to the issue of privileges, senators can speak from anywhere.
Asked if other lawmakers, particularly her female colleagues in the Red Chamber, had so far shown concern over her ordeal, Senator Natasha said some had spoken with her privately to encourage her.
On her female colleagues in the Senate, she the reason for their cold attitude was best known to them.
She, however, revealed that the senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, called her to demand that she dropped her defamation case against Senator Akpabio and his legislative aide.
She said: “Here it is, I have enjoyed tremendous support from my colleagues. And the fact that a number of my colleagues have not spoken out publicly in my defense or criticised what has happened does not mean that they do not visit me privately at home or they do not call on me to give me words of encouragement. Why they are yet to come up openly and criticise the activities of the Senate President, probably that’s best known to them.
“However, the question I have been asked a number of times is, why are the women silent? Why are the three other women silent? Yeah, so, why is that at all? Why do you think they’re silent?
“The day I filed a suit of defamation, the suit on harassment by the Senate President’s SLA on new media, Mr Patrick sexualised me by addressing my outfit as being transparent and that the only thing I know how to do is to wear pancake to the chambers. So, when I filed that suit, Senator Ireti Kingibe called me and advised me to drop the defamation suit.”
On the controversial nightclub remarks by Senator Akpabio on the floor of the Red Chamber, Senator Natasha insisted that it was not a slip of the tongue as the Senate President had allegedly once suggested to her that he could organise a party in form of a nightclub where they could have fun.
“The nightclub incident, I believe that that was not a slip of tongue. That was not a slip of tongue, he has, a number of times, told me there were various ways we could have fun. If we travelled, he has a way of making the whole house; the space, he can basically create a party in the space. You understand, like a nightclub in the space and would have fun and all of that. So, that nightclub incident statement was not a mistake. It was more like out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh…”
‘She is a liar’
But the wife of the Senate President, Mrs Ekaette Unoma Akpabio, has dismissed the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against her husband by Senator Natasha in the TV interview.
Speaking to newsmen, Mrs Akpabio recounted the cordial relationship that existed between her family and Senator Natasha’s family, as she dismissed the allegations as a figment of wild imaginations.
She maintained that the allegations were unfounded, as she was present at her family residence on the 8th December, 2023.
According to her, both families enjoyed a long-standing cordial relationship that predates Senator Natasha’s marriage to her husband.
Mrs Akpabio praised her husband’s discipline as a man who loves and respects his family, citing his track record of supporting women’s inclusion in government even before his emergence as the Senate President.
She urged women to desist from peddling such false allegations, as she vowed to seek legal redress on the matter.
She does not follow Senate rules –Ireti Kingibe
Reacting to Natasha’s claim about the seating arrangement, the senator for the FCT, Ireti Kingibe, while appearing on Arise TV on Friday, carpeted the Kogi Senator, saying she does not follow the Senate rules.
Senator Kingibe said the three other female senators have been silent about the seating arrangement row because they don’t want to say anything negative about Natasha.
“Silence is golden, especially when one of us is not following the rules, and as women, we did not want to come out publicly to say anything negative about her, and we were hoping all of this will blow over, as a lot of things do,” the Labour Party senator said.
She added: “The Senate is not a place where we are supposed to fight over trivialities like seating arrangements.”
According to Kingibe, Natasha was not the only lawmaker whose seat was moved. She disclosed that other lawmakers were affected by the seating reassignment.
“This is about the rules of the Senate. So, if I can point out that other women have been moved several times on that day, I wasn’t there, but I gathered that several men were also moved,” she said.
The chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs admitted that the Senate is not gender-friendly, but she said the situation has improved.
She said, “The truth of the matter is, yes, the Senate is not gender-friendly, but it has been much better than when we first entered the Senate, I must say. And the truth of the matter is, when we make a fuss and draw the attention of the Senate president, he corrects it. Truly, the Senate can do better than he’s doing, but there’s hardly anything that’s been done to us that’s not done to other men.”
Kingibe appealed to women, saying, “I want women to know we have to follow the rules of the institution we choose to enter, and that is mostly the point of this visit here.”
Atiku Speaks
Meanwhile, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has weighed in on the controversy between Senators Akpabio and Natasha.
Atiku, in a post on his X platform, said: “Like millions of Nigerians, I watched with deep concern this morning as Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan raised serious allegations of sexual harassment, intimidation and mistreatment against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
“These allegations are grave and deserve a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation.
“The Nigerian Senate represents the voice of the people. Those who serve in it — especially its leadership — must uphold the highest standards of integrity, dignity, and respect, both for their office and for the Nigerian citizens they serve.
“As the third most powerful figure in the country, the Senate President should embody unimpeachable character.
“Sexual harassment in the workplace is a significant barrier to women’s advancement and, by extension, the nation’s progress. Allegations of such misconduct should never be simply dismissed, particularly when they involve a public officer with immense power, influence, and responsibility.
“As the chief presiding officer of the Upper Chamber, the Senate President has a duty to champion the protection and empowerment of Nigerian women through legislation — not to be the subject of allegations that undermine those very principles.
“The handling of this matter will send a strong message about Nigeria’s commitment to justice, accountability, and the inclusion of women in governance.
“I urge the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Senate itself to take these allegations seriously by ensuring a credible, transparent, and independent investigation.
“With only four women currently serving in the Senate, it is imperative that we foster an environment where female legislators can serve without fear of harassment or intimidation.
“This moment demands careful and principled action to uphold the integrity of our institutions and ensure that every Nigerian, regardless of gender, is treated with dignity and respect.”
Also, the national coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, has called for an independent body to investigate Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Onwubiko suggested that Senator Akpabio should excuse himself from the position of Senate President to allow for a thorough investigation of the Kogi Central lawmaker’s allegations.
“Senate President Godswill Akpabio should give his own side of the story and then since this is a very serious allegation, the Senate President should step aside temporarily and submit himself to investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to ascertain the validity or otherwise of it.
“Alternatively, let both Senators Natasha and Akpabio submit themselves to a lie-detector examination to be conducted by a foreign consultant.
“This allegation is too weighty to be swept under the carpet of impunity. Matters that border on sexual violations and alleged harassment must be forensically and extensively investigated as a way of protecting equality of rights.”
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