The Nigerian Senate Monday has revealed that the embattled President of the chamber, Godswill Akpabio, will not step aside to allow for a thorough investigation into the sexual harassment allegation levelled against him by Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The Kogi senator had last week accused Akpabio of picking on her and denying her privileges because she rejected his sexual advances.
While the Senate President has not spoken, his spokesman, Eseme Eyibo, over the weekend denied the accusation of the issue that has dominated social discourse.
This is not the first time Akpabio has been accused of sexual harassment.
The former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joy Nunieh, had in 2022 said she “slapped Akpabio for sexual harassment.”
But speaking on Monday on Arise TV, the spokesperson for the Senate, Yemi Adaramodu, questioned whether Akpabio would step aside when former Senate President Bukola Saraki did not do so when there were so many allegations levelled against him.
The Senate spokesman, however, said every senator is allowed to raise the issue on the floor for investigation; otherwise, the Senate cannot discuss it.
He stressed that if there’s no petition or if the issue is not raised on the floor of the Senate, the upper chamber cannot discuss it, noting the red chamber is guided by rules as “an arm of government.”
“He (Saraki) could have advised. Even while as Senate President, there were so many allegations, either by Senators or from outside the Senate, targeted against him. And there was never a time that he had to step in for an investigation to be carried out.
“But in this matter, there is presently no matter before the Senate. The only matter that is before the Senate now is the matter between Senator Natasha and the rest of the Senate, which is not complying with the standing order of the Senate.
“If there is anything that comes tomorrow, or anything for that matter, about any senator in the National Assembly, be that Senator, the Senate President, the deputy president, or myself, then the ethics privileges and public petition committee once it is referred to them” will handle it.
“It is that committee that is going to determine the mode by which it is going to treat such a petition, and then it is going to be taken as an internal affair—an internal affair to the extent that it is a senator versus another senator.
“You know that in the Senate, which is the upper chamber, we enjoy that kind of absolute privilege, and whatever we do, whatever we say within the Senate chambers, is not actionable in court.
“So because of that, the ethics and the public petition committee know why.
“If there is any petition for that matter that comes, not only this, that we are even discussing, anything that comes, it is that committee that is going to” handle it, he stated.
