Exactly 30 years ago, women all over the world made a bold declaration in what came to be known as the Beijing Conference. The 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which was adopted at the Conference, stressed the need to uphold all human rights and fundamental freedoms for every woman without exception.
Since then, most governments have adopted by consensus a political declaration to respect, protect, and champion the rights, equality and empowerment of women, a fact which Sima Bahous, Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women, noted at the ongoing 69th session of the Commission in New York, when she said: “Rising to the challenges and opportunities of gender equality requires collective, decisive action across member states, now more than ever. At a time when hard-fought gains for gender equality are under attack, the global community has come together in a show of unity for all women and girls, everywhere.”
Sadly, going by what is happening in the Senate, Nigeria seems not to be part of that global community. Instead, the country has decided to play rogue on the fundamental issue of giving the rights of women a shot in the arm. Presently, there are only four women in the 109-member upper chamber of the National Assembly. That is a gross underrepresentation and disgraceful. More scandalous is the fact that one of the four, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, is presently in the crosshairs of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, because she spurned his alleged sexual advances.
Matters came to a head last Thursday when the Senate rather than investigating the allegation suspended Natasha. To be sure, Akpabio has denied the sexual harassment allegations, but in doing so, he also made it practically impossible for Natasha to prove her case, if, indeed, she has any.
And that raises another question: how can a man claim innocence, yet refuses to take the high moral ground by proving his innocence beyond any reasonable doubt even when he has every opportunity to do so? Rather than proving his innocence, he is unrelenting in sundry acts of mischief.
But he apparently met his match in the fastidious woman, who in an attempt to draw him out sued him for N100 billion. Akpabio, in retaliation got the Senate to refer her to the disciplinary committee. In the ensuing cat and mouse game, she approached a Federal High Court in Abuja and got an order restraining the Senate committee from conducting disciplinary proceedings against her, with the case adjourned to March 10, 2025.
On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, the Senate committee dismissed Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual harassment and abuse of office petition against Akpabio, declaring it “dead on arrival” based on procedural violations and legal constraints but the female senator re-submitted the petition on Thursday.
That was when Akpabio struck viciously. That same day, the matter was referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, chaired by Neda Imasuen, a member of the Labour Party, from Edo State. The Committee dealt with the matter expeditiously, throwing out the sexual harassment allegation on the grounds that it violated Senate rules, because the petition was personally signed by her.
The committee which sat for only one day, even without hearing from Natasha and ignoring a court injunction recommended a six-month suspension for her with effect from March 6; closure of her office within the National Assembly and handing over of all Senate properties in her possession to the National Assembly Clerk; prohibited her from entering the National Assembly premises during the period and suspension of her salaries and allowances. The panel further recommended that she should be barred from representing herself as a senator both locally and internationally during the period and withdrawal of her security aides. They, however, said if Natasha, the aggrieved, submits a written apology, the leadership may consider lifting the suspension before the six-month period expires.
Akpabio, the accused, presided over the sitting, thereby being a judge in his own case. It was brazen. But anyone who expected any modicum of decency neither understands the character of the Senate nor the mentality of today’s men of power.
But, I am not surprised. The Senate is a cult. Nothing must be done to rock the boat. In her book, Bold Leap, Senator Chris Anyanwu wrote, “… fear of the leadership is the beginning of wisdom.” It is a house of conspiracies where “a senator may come with the best proposals for legislation, can be the brightest and hardest working in putting together ideas, but if the leadership does not care about that senator’s ideas, they will sit on them. They can also “can” them and they will become part of the archive of unrealized dreams in the legislature. That archive is mountain high and it is stained with the sweat and tears and frustrations of many enthusiastic, ambitious new legislators.”
That is what has happened to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Riding on the crest of public acclaim, she thought she could make a difference. But she is in an institution where making a positive difference for public good is an anathema. To make matters worse, she refused to “take care” of the almighty Akpabio.
In trying to get at Natasha for having the audacity to spurn Akpabio’s alleged sexual advances, the Senate went for the sledge hammer. Don’t forget, these are men and women who don’t take prisoners. So, the idea is to destroy her permanently, political. And she should watch it. Even her life could be in danger as well. These are men who will do everything to keep their privileges. They have cornered all the resources of the Nigerian state for themselves.
But in trying to get at Natasha for calling Akpabio out, the Senate broke all the rules, including its own, desecrated the 1999 Constitution, thereby damaging its own reputation.
The Senate Rule Book Order 67 says they cannot suspend a senator for more than two weeks; a Court of Appeal ruling in the Senator Ali Ndume case said a senator cannot be suspended for this long; the High Court ruled in the Senator Ovie Omo-Agege case in 2017 that suspending a senator violates the Constitution, and any attempt to prevent an embattled senator from accessing the court is an unacceptable intimidation.
Now, whether suspended or not, Natasha is still a senator. So, how can you withdraw her security aides? What happens to her constituents who will be left without a voice in the six months that they have purportedly slammed the door against her?
The Akpabio-led Senate has dangerously overreached itself this time. A former female senator said Natasha’s treatment was cruel. This orchestrated attempt to shame her without any attempt to determine the veracity of her claims is beyond pale.
Right now, nobody is saying Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan is right. She may or may not be. But it is left for Akpabio to prove her wrong with his own facts, not alternative truths. Exhibiting a misogynist attitude as he is doing now does not cut it. Pushing his wife out while refusing to step to the plate is tantamount to one hiding behind a finger.
But is anyone really surprised at how low the country has sunk when the selfsame Senator Imasuen, chairman of the Senate Ethics committee, who tried and convicted a fellow senator, blatantly ignoring the principle of fair hearing, and in violation of an extant court order, is a man debarred from practising law in the US.
But the truth remains that it does not matter how steep the sanction against Natasha is and how hard the misogynists try to shame her into silence, in the Kogi-born female senator, they have met their match and the joke is on Akpabio, the man who is hiding behind his finger, and the hapless Senate he leads.
The post Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan: The joke is on Akpabio, Senate, by Ikechukwu Amaechi appeared first on Vanguard News.
