Natasha Vs Akpabio: Those Seeking Probe Should Petition Senate, Says Spokesperson

•Afenifere insists on investigation of allegation

Chuks Okocha and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Senate Spokesperson, Adeyemi Adaramodu, yesterday, challenged individuals and groups calling for an open investigation into the sexual harassment allegations against the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio by the Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, to send in petitions to that effect.

He said there was no formal complaint on the matter before the Senate and that the red chamber would not discuss or probe any issue that was not officially communicated to it.

He said the upper chamber could only order an investigation into the matter if there was a petition properly documented and addressed to the President of the Senate.

Adaramodu made the clarification, when he appeared on “The Morning Show” aired by the Arise News Channel.

He said the only issue before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions was the case of Akpoti-Uduaghan who failed to observe the Senate Rules during plenary.

He said the current crisis would not have happened if the Kogi Central Senator had obeyed the rules of the Senate by raising her point of order,  on the seat allocated to her.

“In the Senate, we have rules like any other organisation. Section 60 of the Constitution gave us that right to set our own internal rules that guide us.

“Also, Order 6, (1) and (2), explicitly stated that the Senate President shall allocate seats to each Senator. The second rider is that wherever you are allocated to, that is where you can be permitted or allowed to even contribute during plenary.

“Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan ought to have raised hat point of order when she is in order. So, if you are not in order, you cannot raise a point of order.

“If you raised a point of order. There is no Senate President that will not recognise you if you comply with the rules.

“If after complying with rules, you are now raising a point of order, and the Senate President is not recognising you, it is the whole Senate that are going to approach the Senate President that, please, we have to recognise her.”

Adaramodu said the Senate could not probe Akpoti-Uduaghan’s  sexual harassment claims against the Senate President, because there was no formal petition before the chamber.

He said, “The policy position on the issue of harassment is that if there is any situation like that, and it is confirmed,  the Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition Committee will be called upon to take it up.

“If it was investigated and confirmed to be true, then that Senator, whoever, that Senator may be, for that matter, will face the music. That is it.

“It is like any other misdemeanor in the Senate. It is not only sexual harassment. Any kind of harassment for that matter, not only sexual harassment.”

Afenifere Insists on Probe

A pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has called on the Senate to investigate the allegation of sexual harassment against Akpabio, by Akpoti-Uduaghan.

In a statement by the National Organising Secretary of the Afenifere, Abagun Kole Omololu, the group advised that the allegation should be investigated by a Senate committee, saying the Senate president should not be sacrificed on account of uninvestigated accusations.

“We in Afenifere note and appreciate the political stability engendered by the calm, thoughtful and patriotic leadership of the National Assembly by the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who has been most instrumental in engineering one of the few eras in the history of democratic governance in Nigeria where we have enjoyed Executive/Legislative synergy.

“We are hopeful that such a committed patriot will not be sacrificed on the altar of unproven allegations by an accuser. Of course, the allegations should be investigated by a Senate Committee. However, we cannot help but notice that they were made after the Senate President’s act of just discipline against Senator Natasha Akpoti.

“Hopefully, this is not a knee-jerk reaction made in a highly emotional state by the disciplined party. That being the case, the nation has to be careful in assessing these allegations, as they may or may not result from animosity toward that disciplinary measure.”

Senate Has No Business Probing Sexual Assault Claim against Akpabio, Says Group

A group, the Citizens Network for Peace and Development in Nigeria (CNPD), has asked the Senate not to waste its time and taxpayers’ money probing allegations of sexual assault against Akpabio.

The civil society coalition in a statement in Abuja, said in the absence of a formal petition to its Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions committee, it would amount to a distraction to venture into a matter not before it.

Executive Director of the coalition, Francis Okereke Wainwei, urged the Senate to strictly abide by its rules, saying the sexual assault allegations made by Akpoti-Uduaghan should not derail the legislative body from probing the Kogi senator for disrupting its proceedings last Thursday.