…in the court of public opinion, it is still a case of “she said versus he said.” No one can be sure who is fibbing and who is not at the moment. With the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions already empaneled, the truth will surely be revealed somehow, someday.
Who is fibbing, who is not? That is the question following recent revelations by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan that Senate President Godswill Akpabio made sexual advances at her. Five years ago, another woman, Joy Nunieh, then acting managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) made a similar charge against Akpabio, who was minister of Niger Delta Affairs at the time. For Akpabio’s failed effort at his Apo Guest House in Abuja, Nunieh is alleged to have rewarded him with an unexpected and explosive slap, and she promptly told Nigerians about it. In that kind of situation, no man is likely to own up to being thusly humiliated by a woman who is not his wife. Akpabio did not. So, Akpoti-Uduaghan’s latest accusation is by no means the first time Akpabio will be facing this incipient controversy over sexual harassment.
Nothing deflates a man’s ego more than trying and failing to bed a woman he considers should be an easy conquest. Nothing pricks his conscience even more than when the unsuccessful attempt becomes public knowledge. Such could possibly just be the state of mind of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, currently entangled in a sexual harassment controversy with fellow senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
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Early on Friday, 28 February on Arise TV Morning Show, the senator representing Kogi Central let on how Akpabio sexually harassed her in his new country home in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom, where Akpabio was governor for eight years from 2007.
It was 8 December 2023, with other high-profile politicians invited as guests of the Senate president for a birthday bash the following day. In Akpoti-Uduaghan’s words, the Senate president offered to show her around the new pad, much like cicerones do with awe-struck tourists in newly-commissioned historic buildings. Her husband was also a guest of Akpabio but walking a pace or two behind the two chatting senators, like a Muslim wife.
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In the course of the tour, according to Akpoti-Uduaghan, Akpabio held on to her hand firmly, notwithstanding that her spouse was right behind them. For much of that time, though, Chief Uduaghan, no relation of former governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, was on the phone and so he couldn’t have eavesdropped on whatever the Senate president and his wife were discussing.
Whatever they discussed that day would have remained a secret between the two serving senators. But circumstances decreed otherwise, prompted by none other than Akpabio himself, if we are to believe Akpoti-Uduaghan’s rather unsettling allegation during the Arise TV interview.
Giving a blow-by-blow account of her interaction with Akpabio on that day in Uyo (a day to their birthdays, because both of them are birthday mates), Akpoti-Uduaghan said her senior colleague, while still holding her hand, went on to say that, “now that you’re a senator, I’m going to create time for us to come spend quality moments here. You will enjoy it.”
At that point, the senator said she withdrew her hand, maybe forcefully; an action her hubby would’ve seen and been alarmed by. Possibly out of propriety, he made no fuss in the presence of their host. He only asked his wife what happened when they had left the premises and were in bed at Four Points Hotel, where they lodged. That night, alone with her husband, she said she gave no clue what Akpabio had said. Instead, she dissimulated, as some women caught in that situation probably would have done, like it was no big deal. Besides, ratting on Akpabio would’ve marred the sweetness of her birthday, which was only a few hours away.
But as most people now know, circumstances changed all that, resulting now in the raging battle, claims and counter-claims, suits and counter-suits, between the lawmakers.
It’s been a good 26 months since the incident in Uyo, which is enough time, as anyone would reasonably assume, to forever erase the matter from their minds. Apparently, time has not. If anything, Akpoti-Uduaghan’s disclosure on prime time TV validates the age-old truism that, however long it takes, a secret shared between two persons is no longer a secret. It may blow open one day.
Not only has that informal flirty conversation in early December 2023, which the senator did not immediately disclose to her husband, popped up in the public domain, it has become the fulcrum on which Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation against Akpabio revolves. It has also, in a way, sparked mutual resentment and bitterness between both parties.
Before her disclosure last weekend on Arise TV, distinguished senators witnessed a rather awkward confrontation between Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan right in the hallowed chambers of the Upper House of the National Assembly, Abuja. Much of the acrimonious exchange is now in the public domain. The Senate president had ordered his colleague to relocate to another seat, for reasons which no one can say.
As alleged by Akpoti-Uduaghan, her unrequited love for the presiding officer of the Upper House of the National Assembly, one with immense powers and authority, is the reason for being undermined deliberately, so as to erode her confidence, bit by painful bit, as a senator.
Unable to bear such indignities from the Senate president any longer, she claims to have confronted him once. Akpabio’s response? “Natasha,” she quoted him saying, “I am the presiding officer. You can enjoy a whole lot if you take care of me and make me happy. The ball is in your court.”
It was no surprise, therefore, that everything came to a head on 20 February, after Akpabio ordered that she relocate to another seat.
Before her disclosure last weekend on Arise TV, distinguished senators witnessed a rather awkward confrontation between Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan right in the hallowed chambers of the Upper House of the National Assembly, Abuja. Much of the acrimonious exchange is now in the public domain. The Senate president had ordered his colleague to relocate to another seat, for reasons which no one can say. But one of the four female lawmakers in the Senate, Mrs Ireti Kingibe, has defended Akpabio’s random allocation of seats in the house, saying she herself had been so ordered once and she complied.
But Akpoti-Uduaghan resisted, despite pleas from some of her colleagues and staff of the Senate. Akpabio, she went on, was deliberately using the power of his office to intimidate and bully her because she turned down his sexual advances. For her refusal, she was to then face the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions chaired by Neda Imasuen (LP Edo), which was mandated to report its findings in two weeks.
Still on her disobedience and obvious insubordination to the principal officer on that day in question, Senators Yemi Adaramodu, Jimoh Ibrahim and Bamidele Opeyemi called out Akpoti-Uduaghan, for her “extreme intransigence.”
Going by the Order 1(b) and 10 of the Upper House, the Senate’s spokesperson, Adaramodu, not only moved a motion against Akpoti-Uduaghan’s behaviour but also ribbed her. “The Senate is not a platform for content creation but a place for lawmaking and oversight functions,” he said, insisting that, “where there is sin, there must be penalty. This chamber is not a place for theatrics or social media content creation. We are here to legislate, advocate for our constituents and provide oversight over MDAs, not to engage in media dramatisation.”
Almost immediately, Ibrahim supported him, urging his colleagues to respect the law and order in the house, which his counterpart Opeyemi Bamidele reechoed. “Under our watch, we will not allow this institution to be discredited beyond what we inherited. Our integrity is non-negotiable,” he said, adding that senior senators had “accepted seat changes without protest.”
Furthermore, Opeyemi dismissed claims that the dispute was rooted in gender bias or discrimination. For Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, all the brouhaha was clearly “avoidable.” He then apologised on Akpoti-Uduaghan’s behalf.
Looking on from his vantage position above his colleagues, the Senate president ruled out Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claim that she was being victimised. The Senate rules, he declared, allow for members to sit anywhere, but that contributions must be made from their designated seats. He also insinuated that the lack of familiarity with the Senate procedures might have contributed to the altercation.
“The first day she (Akpoti-Uduaghan) was sworn in, she stood up to contribute and I was worried if she had even read the rule book. There is nothing wrong with being vibrant but everything is wrong with disobeying procedures.”
But the leading female star in the unfolding drama would have none of these. She stands by her allegation of rejecting Akpabio’s amatory overtures as the root cause of her problems in the Senate. And not one to keep quiet about the whole affair, Akpoti-Uduaghan decided to go public with what she’s been allegedly going through with Akpabio, since politely brushing him off.
Naturally, the feud in the Upper House has pitted family members and supporters of the senators against one another. Mrs Unoma Akpabio, wife of the Senate president, has come out in stout defence of her husband, saying Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation against her husband is just about seeking “attention and attempting to tarnish her husband’s reputation for personal gains.”
In the still trending interview on Arise TV, Akpoti-Uduaghan pointedly told her interviewer that her refusal “to yield to the sexual advances was behind the hatred and antagonism by the Senate President,” insisting that these advances happened “within and outside the country.”
Naturally, the feud in the Upper House has pitted family members and supporters of the senators against one another. Mrs Unoma Akpabio, wife of the Senate president, has come out in stout defence of her husband, saying Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation against her husband is just about seeking “attention and attempting to tarnish her husband’s reputation for personal gains.” Curiously enough, Unoma was loudly silent when Nunieh, the former MD of NDDC, had declared to one and all in 2020 that, in his attempt to sexually harass her in his private digs in Apo, she dealt Akpabio a stupefying slap.
In an interview on Arise TV, the same medium through which Akpoti-Uduaghan broke her silence on Akpabio’s alleged sexual harassment, Nunieh gloated openly about this, quite possibly to the delight of the Akpabio’s enemies. “Why did he not tell Nigerians that I slapped him in his guest house at Apo? I am the only Ogoni woman, the only Nigerian woman that has slapped him. I slapped him because of his plan B. Since he couldn’t get me to take that money, he thought that he could come up on me. He didn’t know that I’m a Port Harcourt girl. Port Harcourt girls are not moved by money…by somebody telling me that he will make me the substantive MD. Akpabio’s meetings with me were either at Apo or Meridien…Yes, I am accusing him of sexual harassment.”
Akpabio denied sexually harassing Nunieh but admitted that unnamed individuals “afraid of the Forensic Audit at the NDDC” were behind Nunieh’s aggressive behaviour “to tarnish his image.” How an unexpected slap by a woman in the privacy of his room translates into tarnishing his image publicly is hard to understand.
Undaunted by Unoma’s counter-suit in court and protestations of her husband’s innocence, Akpoti-Uduaghan has responded correspondingly. In a letter through her lawyer Victor Giwa on 1 March, she advised Unoma to, “stay out of the matter,” adding that her husband should be the one to respond to the allegations. “Stay away from Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation against Sen. President Godswill Akpabio, to safeguard your sanity and that of your family,” the epistle stated unambiguously. Continuing, the lawyer said his client had “endured repeated harassment from Akpabio and was left with no choice but to speak out,” boasting that she “possesses concrete evidence to substantiate her claims…Therefore, we wish to clarify that our client’s allegations are directed at the Senate President alone, and she firmly believes that he has the ability to defend himself.”
Even so, in the court of public opinion, it is still a case of “she said versus he said.” No one can be sure who is fibbing and who is not at the moment. With the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions already empaneled, the truth will surely be revealed somehow, someday.
In the meantime, a senior citizen and former Senate president Bukola Saraki has weighed in on the matter between the bellicose lawmakers. In a letter entitled, “Akpabio – Natasha: Let’s Protect the Institution, Not Individuals,” now in the public domain, Saraki expressed his displeasure over the rift in the Senate.
The feud between Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan, Saraki laments, “has made me sad because of its overall negative effect on the integrity, sanctity, image and public perception of the institution. I believe that any person who has had anything to do with the National Assembly, particularly as a leader, member, and worker should always jealously protect these values which make the institution, the numero uno, among the three arms of government. It is for this reason that I believe that the two parties in this dispute and their supporters in and out of the chamber should be mindful of the impact of their actions, inactions, claims and counterclaims to be sure that nothing is done to rubbish the institution.”
During his tenure as president of the eighth Senate, Saraki said he was similarly maligned when a member accused him of underpaying on custom duties for an imported car. In his telling, he stepped down as president and obligingly submitted himself to a panel set up to investigate the matter. In the end, he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Through the epistle, Saraki admitted that he isn’t supporting any of the parties but that, in resolving the issue, “it should be done transparently without being seen to be protective of any of the parties. Rather, the objective should be to unfold the truth and to protect the lawmaking institution against a wrong perception of involvement in or tolerance of law breaking.”
Very well said from a former president of the highest lawmaking body in the country. But his sermon that, “nothing is done to rubbish the institution” in the ongoing war between Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan, and how the lawmakers resolve it, will be a hard sell to Nigerians. It is not hard to see why. Notoriously distrustful of politicians, in general, and lawmakers, in particular, Nigerians can hardly take Saraki’s word for it that the two senators haven’t already desecrated the Upper House.
Mike Jimoh, a freelance journalist, writes from Lagos.
