IPU Cannot Consider Natasha’s Petition Against Akpabio, Says Ondo South Senator

Chairman of the Senate Interparliamentary Committee, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, has dismissed the petition reportedly submitted by suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in New York, stating that it was “dead on arrival.”

Senator Ibrahim, who represents Ondo South, disclosed this in a statement issued to journalists in Abuja on Friday.

Recall that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had on national television accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of frustrating her legislative efforts in the Senate for rejecting his alleged sexual advances. The female Senator was eventually suspended by the Senate over misconduct following a face-off with Akpabio over seating arrangement in the Red Chamber.

LEADERSHIP reports that days after her suspension by the Senate, Akpoti-Uduaghan appeared at the IPU event. Speaking at the Women in Parliament session during the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting at the United Nations in New York, Akpoti-Uduaghan called for international intervention to hold the Nigerian Senate accountable.

But, Senator Ibrahim clarified that Nigeria, not individual lawmakers, is a member of the IPU.

According to him, only member-states can file petitions against each other, making it impossible for the suspended Senator’s petition to be entertained by the global parliamentary organisation.

“The suspended Senator Natasha is not a member of the IPU, but Nigeria is,” he stated. “She also cannot represent the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the IPU.”

The Ondo South Senator further disclosed that during his tenure as interim president of the IPU in Geneva in 2023, he gained firsthand knowledge of how the body functions.

He emphasised that as the current chairman of the Interparliamentary Committee in the Nigerian Senate, he did not approve or authorise Senator Natasha to attend the IPU on behalf of Nigeria.