The Senate will not initiate an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations made by Senator Natasha Apoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, as no formal petition has been submitted, Senate Spokesman Adeyemi Adaramodu has stated.......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
Addressing the issue yesterday, Adaramodu emphasized that the Red Chamber does not act on claims made through television interviews or social media but only considers officially lodged complaints.
His remarks come amid growing calls for an inquiry, including from the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), which has demanded a transparent and independent probe into the allegations.
Naija News had earlier reported that Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan had accused Akpabio of victimizing her in the Senate, alleging that he was punishing her because she refused his sexual advances.
In response, Akpabio’s wife, Nnoma, dismissed the claims and has filed a ₦250 billion defamation lawsuit against the senator.
However, speaking to The Nation yesterday, Adaramodu maintained that the Senate has received no official complaint that would warrant an investigation.
He said: “There is no allegation before the Senate. There is none from anybody for that matter. So we don’t pick allegations on television screen or from social media.
“So, nobody has lodged any allegation with anybody or anyone in the Senate.
“So, the only issue that is on ground is the breach of the Standing Orders which has been referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions.
“And I don’t think there’s any other petition or any other complaint before the head committee. So, you will not be… that means there is nothing to refer to the ethics committee again?
“Unless if anybody brings anything up. So it will be dealt with accordingly. So, for now there is none than the one that we have referred.
“So, we can be hearing so many things from outside, but within the Senate, no allegation against anybody, no complaints from anybody and no case has been presented to us.”
Similarly, Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Eseme Eyiboh, backed Adaramodu’s stance, stating that the Senate cannot act on an allegation that has not been formally presented.
Eyiboh said: “For example, she went to court. There is nowhere in her statement of claims that the issue of sexual harassment is mentioned.
“There is no way from what is in public domain now and there has never been any time she has brought this to the attention of the Senate on points of privilege that she has been sexually harassed.
“It’s only a visitor or a first-timer or a stranger who visits his or her guests that is introduced, is taken around the house or taken around the compound.
“But somebody who is a familiar person in that household may have been taken around the first time he or she came.
“It’s very strange and sad that we are hearing that Senator Natasha and the husband, their family is very close to the family of the Senator, Godswill Akpabio, the Senate president. They have been visiting each other. It’s not hidden.
“So, is it just in 2023 during Senator Akpabio’s birthday that they were conducted around; all along, the families were all bonding and getting on together, visiting each other. They didn’t know the house.
“That is one fact we must interrogate. Then, number two, the same way Senator Natasha is a very beautiful lady in creation.
“But I can also tell you that the substance in his allegations are not elegant and anybody who pays attention to it is embarking on the on a trip of fantasy.”
