Nobody becomes a general without fighting wars
On March 8th, 2025, Nigerians and Nigerian women, joined women worldwide to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), with the theme: Accelerate Action.” This campaign theme emphasises the urgent need to take decisive steps toward achieving gender equality, addressing the slow pace of progress, and empowering women and girls worldwide. However, it was a mixed feeling as prior to the IWD celebration, one of its women, who managed to make it to the Nigerian Senate, faced intimidation and eventually suspended for six months.
The Ethics committee of the senate had recommended six months suspension for Distinguished Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Her office will be locked for the duration, her salary and allowances including that of her aides, withdrawn, her security withdrawn and by the suspension, prevented from coming anywhere near the Senate. In fact, she was not to address herself as a Senator anywhere. I wonder what happens to the “once a Senator, always a Senator”, slogan. A victim of sexual harassment been penalised for confronting her alleged perpetrator, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Natasha AkpabioAkpabio saga is no longer news. But it is disheartening that in an era where women are seeking and thriving to be at the decision making cadre, where women are encouraged to empower themselves, where there is call for action that can unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all, it is that same era, that a female Senator, out of only four women in the Nigerian Senate of 109 senators, is been suspended for six months with all her privileges withdrawn. Recall that former Nigerian Senators, who have faced on form of suspension or the other, were still entitled to their salaries.
The dispute between the aggrieved Senator and the Senate President became public knowledge when her seat was reassigned within the Senate chamber without her consent. Senator Natasha was moved from her original position in the minority section to the last row. She resisted the sudden change. When she persisted in her protest, her microphone was muted and Akpabio directed the Sergeant-at-Arms to remove her from the legislative chamber. However, Akpoti-Uduaghan resisted the directive, standing her ground and insisting on her right to speak. In protest, the Kogi lawmaker raised her voice, accusing Akpabio of silencing her. “Since the nightclub incident, you have deliberately silenced me and the voice of Kogi Central on this floor. You have denied me the right to contribute to motions… I have faced a lot of harassment, I have been going through a lot, a lot. And I have remained quiet because I didn’t want to be interpreted wrongly, I didn’t want any lawsuits against me. I just wanted to be given a chance to work,” she said. The Senator added that she has been funding her international trips personally since 2024, as the Senate leadership systematically blocked her from attending any externally-sponsored events.
Senator Natasha no doubt is a strong woman. When I saw her tweet on her X handle, @NatashaAkpoti, I knew the drama has just begun. Her tweet said; “Against the culture of silence, intimidation and victim-shaming; my unjust suspension from the Nigerian Senate invalidates the principles of natural justice, fairness and equity. The illegal suspension does not withdraw my legitimacy as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I will continue to use my duly elected position to serve my constituents and country to the best of my ability till 2027… and beyond. Senator @NatashaAkpoti Uduaghan. Proudly Kogi Central, Proudly Nigerian.”
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, has accused the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment on a live television programme. This brouhaha followed her refusal to move to a new seat the Senate President allocated to her. Telling her side of the story on Arise TV on Friday, February 28, 2025, the lawmaker said her trouble in the senate started because she refused to sleep with Akpabio. She recounted how Akpabio while showing her around his house in Uyo in December 2023, asked her to “spend quality time with him.”
While taking her around the house, Natasha, said, “He got to this particular sitting room and then he asked me, do you like my house and I said, of course nice sitting room, nice interior, quality taste. He said, now that you’re a Senator, I am going to create time for us to come spend quality moments here, you’ll enjoy it. At that point, I just pulled away and was like I don’t really understand what that meant.”
Senator Natasha also recounted another instance when she pleaded with the Senate President to allow her motion on the Ajaokuta Steel Company to be considered for deliberation on the Senate floor. According to her, Akpabio frustrated her moves for the motion on the matter because she refused to sleep with him. She said, “In February, I wanted to move a motion on the ills of Ajaokuta Steel Company. I listed that motion five times. It was the sixth time it was listed on the order paper that it was approved. Many senators can testify to that. Each time the motion is listed, just before he takes it, he would say, “We can’t take this motion because the mood of the Senate does not accommodate it.”
“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 Nigeria. I’ve noticed that you have stepped down this motion…why can’t you take this motion? It’s very important. He then said, Natasha, I am the Chief Presiding Officer of the Senate. You can enjoy a whole lot if you take care of me and make me happy. At that point, I told him I would pretend that I didn’t hear this.”
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has a history of silencing and sexual harassment against women, this brings to mind the allegations made by Dr. Joy Nunieh, the former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). In July 2020, Dr. Joy claimed she slapped Akpabio, who was then the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, for sexually assaulting her. “Why did he not tell Nigerians that I slapped him in his guest house at Apo? I am the only Ogoni woman, the only Nigerian woman that has slapped him. I slapped him because of his plan B. Since he couldn’t get me to take that money, he thought that he could come up on me,” while entertaining questions on an Arise TV programme at the time. “He didn’t know that I’m a Port Harcourt girl. Port Harcourt girls are not moved by money…by somebody telling me that he will make me the substantive MD. Akpabio’s meetings with me were either at Apo or Meridien…Yes, I am accusing him of sexual harassment.” she said. Akpabio later denied sexually harassing Nunieh, saying unnamed individuals “afraid of the Forensic Audit at the NDDC” sponsored Nunieh to tarnish his image. On December 12th, Ireti Kingibe, Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), temporarily walked out of the senate chamber after Akpabio refused to entertain her motion on the need to probe the demolition of structures in the nation’s capital. It is sad that, that same female Senator could not speak for her colleague, Senator Natasha.
To be continued.
