Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, has been accused of sexual harassment by Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uguaghan.
Since then, Akpabio has refuted the claim via Kenny Okulogbo, his communications consultant.
The accusation was made by Akpoti-Uduaghan in a Friday interview with Arise Television.
She said that because she turned down Akpabio’s advances, he prevented her motions from being heard on the Senate floor.
The Kogi senator went on to say that she endured ongoing harassment and defamation in Apkabio’s office and residence in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state, since she turned down his sexual advances.
She stated, “My problem with Akpabio began on December 8, 2023, when my husband and I went to the Senate President’s pre-birthday invitation at his home in Uyo. He held my hand and said he wanted to show me around his house after we had visited it earlier at Ikot-Ekpene. It was just him, my husband, and me. As he reached this specific sitting room, I saw that he accelerated his pace while continuing to grasp my hand.
“Do you like my house?” he said. He responded, “Now that you are a Senator, you are going to create time for us to spend quality time here and you will enjoy it,” to which I replied, “of course yes.”
Later, I tried to introduce a motion against unethical practices at the Ajaokuta Steel Company on the Senate floor. This motion was only mentioned on the order paper six times out of the five times I listed it. “Natasha, I am the Chief Presiding Officer of the Senate,” the Senate President informed me when I went to him to ask why my motion had been repeatedly stepped down. If you look after me and make me happy, you can have a lot of fun. I assured him that I would act as though I hadn’t heard that.
“My case involves a lecturer punishing a student for not sleeping with him.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan went on to say that other senators had cautioned her against following the seat move because they believed it to be a trap.
“A sergeant-at-arms approached me in the Senate chamber and told me that Senate President Godswill Akpabio had changed my seat,” she continued. Since I had attended the previous session and had not been notified of any changes, this was new to me. I had to use Order 10, which acts as an SOS for senators who believe their rights have been violated, before the Senate President could declare my suspension. By denying me the opportunity to comment on that Order 10, the Senate President erred.
In response to the accusation, Senate President Kenny Okulogbo’s media consultant, called the claims “tissues of lies.”
According to Okulogbo, the Kogi legislator is upset about losing her position as the Senate Committee on Local Content’s chairman.
“Everything Senator Natasha said is a tissue of lies,” he claimed. Her removal as the Senate Committee on Local Content’s Chairman is the only reason she is upset.
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