Natasha/Akpabio Saga: Northern, Southern Leaders In Sentimental War

Northern and Southern leaders have engaged in a sentimental war over the sexual harassment allegation levelled against Senate President Godswill Akpabio by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has alleged that the sexual harassment allegation by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan against Akpabio is a political calculation aimed at stopping President Bola Tinubu administration’s second term.

The Niger Delta body which claimed that the intervention of the apex socio-cultural Northern body, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), in the unfolding saga exposed their plot to remove Akpabio as Senate President and ultimately Tinubu in a bid to ensure the North returns to power in 2027.

The group, which backed Akpabio, claimed that the saga was part of ACF’s plot to restore power to Northern Nigeria in 2027.

The ACF, the League of Northern Democrats (LND) and some prominent Nigerians had called for an independent investigation into Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation against Akpabio.

However, PANDEF’s national publicity secretary, Chief Dr Obiuwevbi Christopher Ominimini, has accused the ACF of turning itself into a political hireling for politicians, adding that the press release by the Northern forum’s publicity secretary was “nothing but a political war against the entire people of Southern Nigeria aiming to incite Northern Nigeria against the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to restore power to Northern Nigeria in 2027.”

PANDEF added that the ACF’s reaction shows that President Tinubu’s second term in 2027 is the real target and it had decided to begin by targeting those they feel are President Tinubu’s power base in Southern Nigeria.

The South-South body asserted that it is Southern Nigeria’s turn to produce the Nigerian president in 2027, adding that the North had two consecutive tenures under President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration.

PANDEF criticised the ACF for insinuating that only Northerners are being suspended in the Senate, adding that its call for Northern senators to rally around one of their own (Akpoti-Uduaghan) was a threat the unity of this country.

“Just to give one example, in the 8th Assembly, a southern Senator from the oil and gas-rich region of the South-South geopolitical zone was suspended by a Northern Senate president. The apex sociopolitical body of the south-south geo-political zone, PANDEF, never intervened in the activities of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. Neither did we call on the Southern or South South Senators to rally round one of our own.

“Suspensions and relocation of seats have been everyday things in the legislature’s business. Those who feel offended usually go to a competent court of law. That has been the standard practice. What ACF has just done is a call for anarchy, division, and a significant threat to the unity of Nigeria.”

PANDEF, therefore, called for the arrest and interrogation of the ACF national publicity secretary, Prof T. A. Mohammad-Baba, by the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Nigeria Police.

“Anybody who incites one part of the country against another other part of the country is nothing but a pathway to anarchy and disunity, and it is treasonable as the unity of the country is under threat,” it said.

PANDEF went on: “It is very strange and sad to hear, as stated by the ACF national publicity secretary, that ‘ACF rues the development and hopes that it is not part of the thinly-veiled anti-Arewa agenda now pervading the Nigerian political process.’ The question is, where is the anti-Arewa agenda coming from? Is it from Southern Nigeria or within Arewa?

“PANDEF has therefore concluded that this political calculation targeted against the Senate president through this well-orchestrated sexual harassment accusation is nothing but a political gimmick to fight back against the South-South geopolitical zone, the breadwinner of Nigeria and entire Southern Nigeria, in the belief of ACF that there is an anti-Arewa agenda in Nigeria. This political sexual harassment accusation is therefore dead on arrival.”

The PANDEF spokesman further advised the ACF to summon an extraordinary meeting to investigate its stance.

PANDEF told the Senate president to remain resolute and confident that his kinsmen were solidly behind him  and were ready to rally around him in the face of this exposed calculated political attack on his office and person and the Southern Nigeria-led presidency.

“The Senate has its own rules, and ACF cannot dictate how the Senate conducts its business,” the regional body added.

ACF had said it was highly disturbed by the emerging controversy in the 10th Senate concerning Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, after the latter accused the former of sexual harassment in a television interview.

ACF said: “It does seem that, to date, only senators from the North have been subjected to heavy sanctions, such as suspensions, in the 10th Senate. In the event, ACF wonders if the unfolding events constitute a pattern or if cruel coincidences exist at work! Putting it mildly, the public image of the leadership of the 10th Senate is now less than inspiring.”