Akpabio’s Confidence Vote and Natasha’s Trial within Trial

The Senate recently passed voice vote of confidence on President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, but the circumstances surrounding the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is still haunting the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. Sunday Aborisade reports.

From allegations that the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions allegedly attached attendance from one of their meetings to legitimize the report that suspended the Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, to the global attention drawn to her allegations of sexual harassment against Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, the upper chamber of the National Assembly is obviously in serious credibility crisis.

For instance, fresh controversy had trailed Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension as some senators, late last week distanced themselves from the report despite the inclusion of their signatures in the document attached to the report.

They claimed that the signatures attached to her suspension report were allegedly taken from the attendance register during one of their regular meetings.

They also  argued that the signatures attached to the panel’s report were not for the endorsement of the suspension report.

The affected lawmakers during a closed-door meeting last week were angry that they were misrepresented hence creating an impression that they supported the suspension.

Some Senators who reportedly signed the committee’s report, were said to have disowned the document in the full glare of their colleagues. They were said to have even protested that they were denied  the opportunity to peruse the final draft before it was presented on the floor of the Senate.

Observers believe that the face-saving measure adopted by the Senate leadership last week to pass a vote of confidence on Akpabio, notwithstanding, has not taken away the fact that only a review of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension process and a fair, unbiased and proper probe of her allegation of victimisation and sexual harassment can restore Nigerians’ confidence in the legislative body.

The crisis rocking the federal parliament snowballed into a national embarrassment last week with the dramatic appearance of the female Senator at an Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, United States where she drew global attention to her plight.

Akpoti-Uduaghan told the global body that she was suspended for raising issue of sexual harassment against the Senate President.

The Senator did not, however, explain to her audience that she was actually punished for misconduct by causing uproar in the chamber while protesting the sudden change of her seat without her knowledge.

She sought international intervention in her suspension from the Senate and described the action taken against her as unlawful and a deliberate attempt to silence her for speaking out against alleged misconduct in the Nigerian upper legislative chamber.

In trying to douse the tension and embarrassment that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation had created in the international community, the red chamber said her matter was already in the court of law, which would not allow the legislative institution from dabbling into it based on Order 40 of its standing rules.

The vote of confidence on Akpabio was passed during plenary following a motion moved by the Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central) and seconded by the Senate Deputy Minority Leader, Senator Olalere Oyewumi (Osun West).

Bamidele rose under Orders 41 and 51 to raise a matter of urgent national importance to draw the attention of his colleagues to the public discourse that had been diverting the attention of the Senate in the last two weeks.

The Senate Leader said, “Based on the kind of distraction that we have witnessed in the last two weeks as a Senate and as a representative of the Nigerian people, there is the need for us to rest this matter so that we can concentrate on the mandates for which we were elected by the Nigerian people.

“There’s no doubting the fact, or there’s no pretending about the fact that members of public have been genuinely interested in matters happening within this hallowed chamber in the last two weeks, especially with respect to the allegation by one of our distinguished members, home and abroad, as to whether or not she had been sexually harassed.

“I feel it is important once and for all that we place on record where we are on this matter and rest the matter as an institution so that we can concentrate while we allow the court of law and any other agencies who constitute such matters to do their job.

“I begin by recognizing the right of members of public to subject what we do to utmost scrutiny. And I recognize the fact that it is the people that can criticize the government, because we’re a part of the government.”

Bamidele stressed the need for the Senate to explain the true position of Nigerians who, he said, are currently being misled by wrong narratives in certain quarters.

He said, “I also want to make it clear to the public that the issue before us, as of the time we referred this matter to the Ethics and Privileges Committee, had nothing to do with sexual harassment.

“Some of the critics who have said this Senate allowed Senator Godswill Akpabio, the President of the Senate, to be a judge in his own case and to preside over his own matter, need to be told, with all due respect, that the matter before us and on which Senator Akpabio presided over, as the President of the Senate, had to do with the motion that was referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions.

“While we appreciate the concern of the public on this matter, I just want to emphasize that it is important that we also seek the understanding of the general public that we were elected to serve the people and we are guided.

“Whatever we do in this chamber, we are guided by rules. And these rules are also drawn pursuant to the Constitution of our country.

“So, it is not a rule of men. It is a rule of law. It is not about some men trying to gang up against a woman or anybody. It is about ensuring that our rules are respected.

“That is the only way we can guarantee peace, we can guarantee law and order. That is the only way we can have an atmosphere in which we will be able to do our job and serve the Nigerian people.

“Suspension, as far as we are concerned, is the only alternative to the kind of anarchy that the nation witnessed in the past, where members of parliament had reasons to shout, to get physically engaged with each other, to engage in acts of violence, to tear each other’s clothes and, you know, do all manners of things.”

Akpabio commended his colleagues for passing the confidence vote on him even as he faulted the appearance of Akpoti-Uduaghan at the IPU meeting, saying that her action had seriously embarrassed Nigeria.

Akpabio said, “I’m aware further that she (Akpoti-Uduaghan) has now externalise the matter by attempting to embarrass the Federal Republic of Nigeria by going to give a narrative at the IPU UN event, totally different from what occurred in the Senate.

“But I want to thank Honourable member, Kafilat Okpara, who had to give a press conference in New York to caution the international press not to vilify Nigeria, but to note that the facts presented by her were totally out of tune with what occurred in the Nigerian parliament and that we have our own internal mechanisms of resolving issues in Nigeria.

“Outside this parliament, we also have the judiciary which she is even standing before the judiciary, so I don’t know why she would do so.

“Even here she has brought a petition and she has not allowed us to even look into it. She went to court and then she has not allowed the court to look into it.

“She has gone to the international community and she may not even allow the international community to look into it.

“She might decide to run to…I don’t know where. I don’t want to be misquoted.

“But the reality is that we remain resolute. We are law abiding. We operate through the rules of the Senate, which is an extension of the powers and privileges given to us by the ground norm, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We still are open to making sure that we remain in peace. We left room for her to recognize that what she’s doing may even frighten a lot of men in future from even appointing or selecting female deputy governors.”

An obviously elated Akpabio then commended his colleagues for passing a confidence vote on him.

He said, “In my absence when I was at another function, the Deputy President was presiding and by the time I heard on the radio that this August assembly had passed a vote of confidence on this leadership and particularly the Senate President.

“I said it would not be correct if I come and pretend like the ostrich putting his head under its wings and pretending that it was dark. I needed to let you know that I deeply, deeply appreciate the vote of confidence on my leadership.”

Strong indications have emerged late last week that the suspended Senator is currently facing trial within trial based on a statement issued by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interparliamentary Relaltions, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim.

Ibrahim in his statement had remarked that the purported petition which the suspended Senator Natasha, submitted at the IPU was “dead on arrival.”

He emphasised that Nigeria, rather than Senator Natasha, is the member of the IPU.

The Ondo South Senator said, “A petition can only be lodged against another member-state by a member-state.

“This implies that the IPU cannot consider petitions from individuals who are not members. The suspended Senator Natasha is not a member of the IPU, but Nigeria is!

“Additionally, the suspended Senator cannot represent the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I served as the interim president of the IPU in Geneva in 2023, and I am familiar with how the IPU operates after presiding over its proceedings.

“Furthermore, as Chairman of the Interparliamentary Committee in the Nigerian Senate, I did not approve or authorise the suspended Senator Natasha to attend the IPU on behalf of Nigeria to the Senate President.”

There are however, reports that the intelligence agencies have launched investigation into how Akpoti-Uduaghan, gained access into the IPU meeting in New York, since she was not nominated to attend the event.

The State Security Service (SSS) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), are said to be unravelling the identities of those who facilitated her trip and appearance at the venue of the global legislative body’s meeting.

It was learnt that the intelligence agencies would determine whether certain individuals or groups of people were behind her trip.

Nigerians, and indeed, the international community are eagerly waiting for further development in the Akpoti-Uduaghan’s saga in the next few days despite the fact that the Nigeria’s Senate said it had washed it’s hands from it and pushed the investigation into the court of law.