Women Group Wants Natasha’s IPU Appearance Investigated

The Igbo Progressive Women has called on Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to stop further embarrassing the Nigerian Government before the international community.

This came amid Senator Natasha’s recent claims that there was a plan to have her arrested upon her return to Nigeria.

Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed the move is linked to her participation in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in New York on 11 March, where she raised concerns about her suspension from the Senate and sexual harassment allegations against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

“I’m aware there are plans underway to have me arrested as soon as I arrive in Abuja,” Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is still in the US after the IPU meeting, said.

In a statement made available to journalists yesterday, the organisation‘s president, Chief Mrs Grace Ohabuenyi, said how Senator Natasha dragged the matter was beginning to appear that certain elements were sponsoring her to embarrass the country.

The group demanded that her trip to the IPU be thoroughly investigated to unravel those behind “a calculated attempt to ridicule the Nigerian Government before the international community.”

She wondered why the Senator, who had filed a suit before the court, could not wait for its determination but chose to rush to the IPU to dent the country’s image.

Mrs Ohabuenyi said, “We had earlier exercised restraint over this matter because it bothers a fellow woman, but the dimension it has taken suggests there is more to it than meets the eye.

“We took notice of the statement issued by our sister, Mrs Unoma Akpabio, when this matter started, wherein she disclosed that both her family and that of Senator Natasha are family friends. One then wonders why she never mentioned the alleged harassment to the Senate President’s wife, a family friend, but only chose to go public after she went against Senate rules.

“Ordinarily, her outcry would have attracted sympathy, but how it was done, including all the Senators standing together against her, means that she is not on the right path.

“Now, she ran to the international community, where she appeared as a Nigerian Senator despite being on suspension.

“Our question is- who facilitated her appearance? How did she get there? What were her motives behind running to the international community even when her matter was before a court of competent jurisdiction?

“These questions are yearning for answers, and one is forced to say that certain elements who don’t have the interest of the country at heart could be at best behind this drama.”

While calling for security agencies to investigate the Senator’s trip thoroughly, the women‘s group expressed worry that such actions could harm women in politics.

“We have been clamouring that women should be given serious positions in government, but when things like this happen, they demean all our efforts to bring about inclusivity.

“Her actions are now clearly not about the Senate President but against the current federal government, and this is not in the best interests of women in government,” the group further stated.