Senate Is Like A Cult. My Suspension A Means Of Silencing Me – Natasha Tells BBC

Nigerian Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has alleged that she experienced sexual harassment involving the President of the Nigerian Senate, who has denied the allegations.

In an interview with the BBC, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only four women in the 109-member Senate, described the chamber as “a cult” where people are afraid to express dissenting views for fear of retaliation.

Natasha Akpoti: Senate is like a cult — lawmakers tuck in contrary views for fear of victimisation

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi central, says the Nigerian senate is like a “cult”, adding that senators do not express contrary views in the upper chamber for fear of retaliation.

Akpoti-Uduaghan was speaking in an interview with the BBC.

“I am being victimised. My suspension is a means of silencing me,” she said.

“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.”

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