The Senator representing Kogi Central in the Senate, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has alleged that she has been facing a lot of harassments in the Red Chamber.
Speaking during a telephone interview on a live human rights radio show, popularly known as ‘Brekete Family’ on Human Rights Radio in Abuja on Friday, the federal lawmaker claimed that she has been subjected to intimidation since joining the Senate even as she revealed that plans were underway to suspend her.
The anchor of the show, Ahmed Isah, popularly known as Ordinary President, had called Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan live in the course of the programme in order to shed light on the incident involving her and the Senate President Godswill Akpabio on the floor of the Senate on Thursday.
Natasha reluctantly said: “You know the thing is there are certain rules in the chambers that whatever I speak of in the Senate can’t be used against me, but if I make any utterances outside of the chambers, considering the fact that I am facing a lot of harassment, I have been going through a lot and I have remained quiet because I didn’t want to be interpreted wrongly, I don’t want any lawsuits against me, I just wanted to be given a chance to work.
“A lot of my privileges have been denied, I have been pulled out from many international activities that I was part of, that is, right after the ‘nightclub incident’ that happened last year. There was even a United Nations event I was supposed to attend which I was nominated for, but my name was struck out that they will not promote me in any activity (of the Senate) internationally. So, every event I have been going for since last year have been self-sponsored, whenever I feel an international event is of importance to my constituency, to Nigerian women, to Nigeria, I buy my ticket myself and I fund my trips myself, I just don’t speak about it.
“I have been going through a lot, so yesterday (Thursday) was just a lot. Changing my seat was just a way of silencing me or alienating me from being seen. Sitting position is critical, the nearer you sit positions you near the camera and gives you an added advantage to be called upon to contribute to debates,” she said.
“Ordinarily I’m already sitting at the very back. Actually I’m sitting at the last seat just before the door. But then, I was now moved suddenly without any notice, without any information, my seat was moved to the far corner, a part where the cameras don’t capture if you sit over there, you won’t even be captured, except maybe they zoom out, you will be easily missed out, you can raise your hand and nobody will call you.
“There are other Senators, 109 of us, why is it me, why do I have to be moved from there? Just two weeks ago, I was removed from the Local Content Committee. I was moved from there because some people perceived that I was using that office to divert resources from the Niger Delta to the North and that was not it, we have the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline which is going to be completed by the second quarter of this year and we need to feed gas for that,” Senator Natasha added.
Akpoti-Uduaghan clarified that in the wake of Nigeria now pushing itself to be more productive with industrialisation picking up, factories up North like other parts of Nigeria needed greater electricity supply, and now there are CNG cars, there was a need for feed gas to service all of these.
She, however, added that she was not going to mention names, but there was a whole lot going on in the Senate and all she would say was she appreciated Nigerians for standing up for her.
On the claim that the Senate was planning her suspension, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan said: “I know that right now, they are planning my suspension, if I’m suspended, fine, it will not stop me from doing my work wherever I can, I have a number of projects in line and I will keep serving my people and I will keep being a voice and a law-abiding citizen.”
She reiterated that she did not speak out of order during the confrontation with the Senate President Akpabio on Thursday. “And yesterday, I did not speak out of order, he was reading my suspension and I had to invoke Order 10 which is an order of privilege, which meant, ‘Instead of suspending me, if you find me faulty in any area, send me to face the Ethics and Privileges Committee’ almost like a panel, that was what I did, I had to invoke that order which is a right of every Senator who feel their rights are being infringed upon, that was what I did. If I had not done that, I would have been suspended on the floor, so I had to say that to prevent the suspension at that point, but I’m aware that they are still planning the suspension,” Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan concluded.
LEADERSHIP reports a dramatic face-off between the female Senator and Senate President Akpabio on the floor of the Senate during Thursday plenary over sitting arrangement, a development that led Akpabio to order Senator Natasha out of the chambers.
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