In the past five weeks, Senator Natasha Hadiza Akpoti-Uduaghan has been in the news. It all started shortly after the groundbreaking ceremony of the 5 mini LNG plants at Ajaokuta in the northern part of Nigeria. The first attack was the sponsorship of publications condemning the establishment in the North.
This was followed by her removal as Chairman, the Senate Committee on Local Contents. Then the change of her seat at the Senate Chamber. She protested the change without prior notification as required by the Senate rule. Current Senate President Godswill Akpabio had also once vehemently made a similar protest Bukola Saraki held sway as Senate President at the Red Chamber. The protester was allowed to have his say. No persecution.
Not so, in the case of Natasha. At the speed of lightening, she was suspended for six legislative months. The embattled Natasha cried out over the latent source of her travails with Akpabio: alleged sexual harassment by her tormentor. Rather than giving a fair hearing via unobtrusive investigation, the Senate leadership applied the sledgehammer to sweep the matter under the carpet amidst strategic media blackmail.
As it were, members of the National Assembly who had had similar suspension experiences went to Court to seek redress. And they were not disappointed. The court ruled that the Senate had no right to suspend an elected senator, thereby denying the respective constituents the right to representation. But brazenly, the Senate leadership damned the court ruling. Nigeria’s Senate leadership saw themselves as the Lord of the Rings. They obey no court order.
Natasha has also gone to court challenging her illegal suspension, and just when the Abuja Federal High Court Judge was to deliver judgment on the case, he stepped aside from the case on the 25th of March 2025. It was alleged that his stepping aside was a result of threats to his life. Meanwhile, as part of the game to divert attention from the illegal suspension, Senate leadership reportedly conspired with disgruntled politicians from Kogi State to initiate Senator Natasha’s recall. They ensured that the so-called recall saga dominate the news media; both conventional and the social media.
As the recall mill swiftly grinds, nobody bothered to ask why the sudden withdrawal of the Judge from the case. That was the game plan.
Now that INEC has eventually declared that the sponsored recall petition did not meet recall requirements, it’s time we begin to ask questions about the allegations that the Judge was threatened to withdraw from the case.
The court is supposedly the last hope of the common man. And in a democracy, the judiciary plays a vital role. If the judges could not do their work due to threats, then what is the future of our so-called democracy and the people? If the NASS does not respect the judiciary, which is one of the three arms of the government, what, then, is the hope for the survival of our democracy?
Natasha has remained resolute over the accusation of sexual harassment by Akpabio, and she’s tenacious about that. In a civilised society, the sane step to take would have been the institution of independent investigation. Conversely, she is accused of being a serial blackmailer by the Kogi State Commissioner of Information.
I wonder how the Kogi State Commissioner of Information becomes Senator Akpabio’s spokesperson. Recall that Abubakar Atiku, at a press interview said that Akpabio was not just corrupt but also in the habit of abusing women. But Akpabio’s wife is yet to challenge Atiku in court for defamation of her husband’s character. In the same vein, the Kogi State government spokesperson also did not brand Atiku a serial liar.
Senator Natasha wanted to visit her home, her ancestral home and her constituency to observe Sallah with her constituents. In less than 24 hours after announcing her schedule, the state government began a show of shame. The governor banned security envoys’ entry into Ebiraland and banned rallies and public gatherings in Kogi Central, citing security reasons. They also imposed curfew in Ihima, Natasha’s home town. The amazingly courageous woman ignored them and flew into Ihima in a helicopter.
As she rightly said, “Nobody and nothing can stop me from coming home. I’m an Ebira woman; this is my land. I’m the daughter of the late Jimoh Abdul Akpoti. I know my roots; I’m not a bastard, and I’m not afraid of anybody.” As a law-abiding citizen, she landed home on a helicopter to break no government law and order. They were pained wish they had the authority to ask NAMA to close the airspace.
The emergency restriction and curfew were to shield the world from seeing the stupidity of the recall exercise and the overwhelming support that the Senator enjoys in her constituency.
In the face of the well-planned and executed acts of aggression, Natasha arrived at Ihima by air and was warmly received by an unbelievable crowd that waited for her at her country home in Ihima. Scores of men, women both young and old had walked several kilometres to await her in her house.
Then tongues wangled: imagining what would have been the situation if there were no restrictions put in place by the government.
To the Kogi State Governor, this monumental embarrassment should be a lesson in history. Your own sister was being bullied by an outsider, and you took sides with the bully against her. Certainly, this is not in our character as Anebira. It is absurd and unconscionable; especially when it is obvious that she’s being oppressed. Without necessarily taking sides with her, it would have been honourable to choose the path of peacemaker.
If truly the information commissioner, Kingsley Fanwo, is a trained journalist and mass media expert, his choice of words betrayed professionalism. This is why people in government should endeavour to hire thoroughbred professionals to handle sensitive tasks like information services, not propagandists who would create irreparable image crises for their principals.
Natasha is a duly elected senator by her constituency and the constituency is right by her side. You have seen that at the homecoming event in Ihima. They have every reason to be by her side because they have not had a senator like her since the creation of the state. Somebody can’t love you unconditionally and you don’t love her back. That’s madness. Just yesterday, despite the crisis, she empowered some members of her constituents and had a groundbreaking ceremony for a free maternity and childcare centre for her constituents.
There were comments on why she never spoke about sexual harassment until recently. Natasha respects her family and friend Bond. She tries to manage Akpabio’s advances to save the family and friend ties until she realizes he is not manageable. She had to speak out after her efforts to manage him failed. He had successfully ruined the family relationship. She should be applauded for her effort to preserve the relationship that had existed between Uduaghan Akpabio’s family.
There are still calls from a few that she needs to apologize. What is she apologizing for? For protesting a change of seat without prior notification? A protest that is supported by Order 10 of the Senate Standing Orders? An apology is an admittance of guilt. When has protest become a crime?
Dear Senate leadership, it is obvious that all attempts to humiliate and silence Natasha have failed woefully; notwithstanding the massive and sweeping media propaganda. The allegedly ‘well-funded’ recall petition died a natural death. They could not even forge enough signatures to meet her recall requirement. The illegal suspension will also fail. There are precedents.
Rather than hating her for her performance, intelligence, and guts, you should rather take her as a model to redefine representation at the National Assembly. She was elected just like you and other Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Akpabio should should remove the mask of pride, identify the strength in Natasha and other fellow Senators; and work together for the collective good of our dear country.
Dear Senate President sir, in your interest and the interest of the institution, it is time to get her back to the Senate and seek a peaceful resolution. Nigeria’s Legislative arm of the government surely needs Natashas from various parts of the country.
– Ireyi Zubair writes from Zaria.
