Senate is like a cult. Lawmakers don’t express contrary views for fear of victimisation – Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi central, has said that the Nigerian senate is like a “cult” and senators do not express contrary views for fear of retaliation. 

Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is one of only four women in the 109-member Senate, said this in an interview with the BBC. 

The female lawmaker had accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her. 

She was suspended from the senate on March 6 for “gross misconduct” following her seating arrangement altercation with Akpabio. 

“I am being victimised. My suspension is a means of silencing me,” she told BBC host, Yemisi Adegoke. 

“It was episode after episode, moment after moment. We were at his country home. He was taking me around his house. My husband was walking behind us. He held my hand. 

“He then squeezed my hands in a very suggestive way. We women, we know what it means when a man squeezes our hands in a suggestive way. 

“And he went, ‘now that you’re in the senate, I’ll make an opportunity for us to come here and have a good moment’, you know, along that line.” 

Asked if Akpabio ever made any advances towards her in the chamber or the senate, she said: “There was a time when I rushed to work forgetting to wear my ring, there were about five senators there. He said, ‘Oh Natasha, you are not wearing your ring, is this an invitation to treat?’ You know, statements like this.” 

Responding to the interview, Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, the senate’s deputy chief whip, told the BBC that there was never a time Akpabio made sexual advances towards Akpoti-Uduaghan. 

He also said the senate president never made any inappropriate comments towards the female lawmaker whether in his country home or the senate chamber. 

Nwaebonyi also rejected Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claim that the senate is trying to silence her. 

“Senator Natasha’s legislative activities show this claim is not true,” he said.