The Nigerian Senate has suspended a female senator after she accused its presiding officer of sexual harassment. Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was barred from office from Thursday and will have her allowances and security withdrawn for six months after she made an accusation against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who denied the claims against him.
On Wednesday, the Senate ethics committee rejected Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition about the alleged harassment, citing procedural rule violations. Her subsequent suspension was justified over an earlier argument that erupted in the Senate about a change in her seating arrangement.
In a TV interview on February 28, Akpoti-Uduaghan one of only four women in the 109-seat chamber alleged that Akpabio made unwanted sexual advances towards her in 2023. “This injustice will not be sustained,” she said on Thursday after she was prevented from speaking in the Senate and escorted out of the chamber by the sergeant-at-arms.
Akpabio has publicly denied any wrongdoing. “Since the 20th of February, I have been inundated with phone calls from various Nigerians. I would like to state that at no time did I sexually harass Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan,” he said, speaking at the start of a plenary session on Wednesday.
Credit: ALJAZEERA