By Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis


‎The suspended lawmaker representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has taken her frustration to the popular British television station, Sky News, where she narrated that she spent over a year enduring the alleged sexual advances of Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The senator reiterated during the interview with the British Television network on Wednesday that her suspension was a direct consequence of her outcry against Akpabio’s alleged sexual harassment and not the gross misconduct the Senate reported.

According to her, the Senate president continually told her that she must “please him” if she wanted to enjoy her privileges and perks of office as a Senator.

She said, “I made an allegation of sexual harassment against the President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on March 5, 2025, and the very next day, I was suspended for six months. I believe my suspension is illegal, unjust, and just a way of silencing me.

“I experienced sexual harassment over the past year in the hands of the Senate President, and this sexual harassment, because I refused to yield to his demands, turned into malice whereby my rights and privileges as a senator were deprived.

“I found the courage to speak up; yes, the breaking point was moving me from that seat; I have had to endure a whole lot in silence.”

When reminded that the Senate attributed her sanction to gross misconduct, the lawmaker refuted it, saying it was a calculated attempt to silence her.

“Yes, they did mention that I was suspended on grounds of gross misconduct, but can they please provide what the gross misconduct is that amounts to a six-month suspension the day after I submitted a petition? I was suspended because of that petition, not because of any gross misconduct.

“Let’s talk about the gross misconduct that had happened in the Nigerian chambers. I was only told to move, and I refused to move my seat because I deserved to be notified; I deserved to be given a chance to explain why I should retain my seat,” she noted.

To further back up her claim, the Kogi legislator recalled that she has witnessed some male colleagues fighting, screaming, and insulting one another with no sanction meted out.

Akpoti-Uduaghan argued that using her as a scapegoat only reflects the hypocrisy and double standards in the Senate.

She said, “I have seen in that chamber where men fight, where Senators throw items at each other, curse each other, shout at each other, but they were not suspended. Why? Because they were men. Things got difficult for me; I was always complaining.

“My husband would actually walk up to him because they are friends, saying, ‘My wife has a very important bill, her constituency needs this, why don’t you give her a chance to speak? And he would tell me, ‘Next time. So he deliberately kept on denying me this.

“Each time I walked to him he’d tell me, ‘Right here I am the chief presiding officer of the National Assembly, so you have to please me, make me happy to get these privileges.’ And that happened several times because I refused. It developed into malice. Which other way was I supposed to make my voice heard?”

Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended for six months by the House for breaking the Senate rules after she objected to her new sitting arrangement.

Her appearance as a guest on Sky News comes barely one week after she escalated her dispute with Akpabio, presenting her case at a United Nations forum, the International Parliamentary Union, where she alleged political victimisation.

She was suspended on March 6 after a heated confrontation with the Senate leadership over a new seating arrangement, which she claimed was designed to undermine her.

Tensions intensified when the Kogi politician accused Akpabio on Arise TV of punishing her for rejecting his alleged sexual advances.

Speaking at the Women in Parliament session during the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting at the United Nations in New York, Akpoti-Uduaghan called for international intervention to hold the Nigerian Senate accountable.

She further decried stringent conditions imposed on her, including withdrawal of security, salary cuts, and a ban from the National Assembly for six months.

Magnetic010:
Politicians are all lairs....Akpabio is a liar, Natasha is a liar.

She said, “I have seen in that chamber where men fight, where Senators throw items at each other, curse each other, shout at each other, but they were not suspended. Why? Because they were men. Things got difficult for me; I was always complaining.

sreamsense:
You endured for one year only to voice out at wrong time when you were served punishment for violating senate rule. Why didn't you complain at the right time only to mix it together with your senate rule violation? No one will believe you for voicing out at the wrong time even if the case is true because you see sexual harrasment as your tool to punish men