The Senator representing Kogi Central in the Senate, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has revealed the genesis of her incessant faceoffs with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, saying she was being sexually harassed in the Red Chamber for refusing love advances from him.
Senator Natasha, married to a Delta State-born billionaire businessman, disclosed this on Arise News Channel’s breakfast programme, ‘The Morning Show’, on Friday morning.
LEADERSHIP reports a dramatic faceoff between Natasha and Akpabio on the floor of the Senate during plenary last week over a seating arrangement.
Earlier this week, the Senate referred the matter to its Ethics and Public Petition Committee for investigation.
However, speaking on the live TV show, the Kogi Central Senator said the matter began in December 2023 during an official visit to Akpabio’s native Akwa Ibom State. She alleged that the Senate President used the opportunity to invite her and her husband to tour his private house in Uyo, the state capital.
Natasha said it was during the tour of the magnificent building that Akpabio told her that he could create a space for them both in the building to have fun.
She recalled another incident in the Senate when she needed to move a Motion on Ajaokuta, which is part of her senatorial district, but the move was thwarted by Akpabio. She said fellow Senators later advised her to meet him privately to sort things out over the Motion.
Natasha said Akpabio told her pointblank that she would only have her way on the Ajaokuta Motion only if she was ready to play ball.
On a previous incident on the floor of the Senate where Akpabio warned Natasha to behave herself since Senate was not a ‘nightclub’, the Kogi Central Senator said it was not a slip of tongue as the Senate President once discussed having a ‘nightclub’ fun with her previously.
Senator Natasha also alleged that the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, once called to threaten her at midnight over the recent faceoff with Akpabio, saying the Ekiti Central lawmakers warned that ‘if Akpabio goes down’, she will go down too.
