….says those persecuting her ought to be in jail for corruption
By Haruna Salami
The Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan completely shut down the main entrance gates to the National Assembly Tuesday when she attempted to resume from his six weeks suspension.
In anticipation of her planned resumption, security was beefed up around the entire National Assembly complex right form Monday.
When the Kogi senator’s convoy was stopped at the Police gate for about 30 minutes and all entreaties fell on deaf ears, Senator Natasha in company of Aisha Yesufu alighted from the SUV and walked on foot to the next gate with many supporters.
During this time vehicular movement in and out of the National Assembly came to a total standstill.
At the second gate, combined team of Sergeant-At- Arms, the internal security of the National Assembly, DSS and Civil Defence Corps barricaded the entrance with their personnel firmly holding their hands to stop her.
After introducing herself, she wanted to know from the head of the security team why she was stopped from resuming her legislative duties on behalf of her constituents who elected her, but the officer simply said they were “acting on order”, and refused to disclose who gave the order.
Speaking with journalists by the firmly locked gates, Natasha said she is a law-abiding citizen even though she has two federal government criminal cases against her, they are on criminal defamation simply because she spoke up on the threat to life adding that “everybody has a right to speak up on their threat to life and Nigerians should know that I am not facing charges of corruption, embezzlement, drug abuse and neither am I facing charges of murder.
She said it is ironic that the people who are testifying as witnesses in the two federal government cases have cases at EFCC that they have actually embezzled state funds running into billions. “So it’s really very important I do mention the flip of our judicial system, the flip of how institutions are being utilized to oppress people who are innocent.
According to her, if Nigeria works and if the institutions are truly independent and strengthened, “then there’s no reason why some of these fellows who sit there, senators, should even be in the Senate in the first place. They should actually be behind bars and I do pray and hope that it is by my actions today and by voices of Nigerians all around, whether in the country or in diaspora, that we speak up and ensure that this injustice that is being meted against me, this persecution meted against me will not stand so that their daughters will not suffer, so that their wives will not suffer simply because they spoke up against sexual harassment.
“I’m sorry I have to mention this, because you see, people have wondered, Natasha, how come there’s so much hate? How come you were suspended for six months just the day after you tendered your petition on sexual harassment? And then there was the fraudulent recall, we all saw how we survived the recall. And then there’s been a whole lot of attacks against me which by the grace of God I have survived. And whenever people ask me, Natasha, why is there so much hate from the Senate president against you? Why is that institutions have turned against you even though, by and large, you are pretty much one of the fairest senators or politicians in Nigeria? And I tell them, this is just an iceberg of what I have had to suffer and endure in the Senate under Akpabeo’s leadership for the last one year.
“Many of you thought that my speech on that floor when I told him I was not afraid of him, and I did mention, I said, if you make me speak to the media on what I have had to endure in your hands, you know, it would go pretty. And that’s to let Nigerians know that that outburst I had on the floor was just a compilation of so many wrongs that Akpabio has meted against me.
She said it is a shame that we have had so many good Senate presidents like Chuba Okadigbo, of blessed memory, David Mark, Bokola Saraki and Ahmed Lawal, who is a senator right now, adding that “this is the worst assembly Nigeria has ever had and hoped we will not have to suffer this anymore, because it tells a lot on the individual.
“The Senate president, Godswill Akpabeo, runs the Nigerian Senate as if it’s the third term governor of Akwa Ibom. Many senators are afraid. You’ve all seen what happened. You are not allowed to speak. When you try to speak or air your views on certain issues that are critical, you get shot down if it does not conform with what he wants.
She said there was no official reason given to her for why she was not allowed in the Senate, adding she only read in the papers the previous day that she should not resume Tuesday because the Senate has appealed.
Therefore, she presented a court document that the Senate has not appealed the judgment, but it was Akpabio himself, adding that he is “abusing power by using the entire institutions to fight her.
“It’s a personal vendetta that Akpabio is unleashing on me by hiding under the whims of the institutions. And it is wrong. It is totally wrong. Because you can’t have his own senatorial district deprive the centre of representation. There is just no reason why this gate should not be open. But by and large, considering the fact that the Senate is vacating tomorrow, whenever they deem it fit to resume, we would resume as well. So what matters most is all the pressures and all the calls of me apologizing for no wrong that I did. I have refused to do that. So if it means staying the entire six months for an unjust suspension, which I am repeating again, has been quashed by the courts, so be it.
Despite her suspension since March this year, she has been busy with her constituents on the brighter side. “You’ve all seen. We’ve been carrying out a lot of projects in the past few months. And that is true to my nature, because I am a technocrat. I’m a lawyer. I’m an oil and gas expert. My formative year in my career were in the oil and gas industry. So I got into politics because I wanted to create a different mark for other people like me who wants to venture into politics because I want to intentionally raise the standard of leadership it’s enough for us in Africa to sit down and admire leaders or politicians from other smaller African countries not talk of the European world and the other western world so it’s also I hope that with this journey so far however it goes people should muster strength from me and I hope that 2027 will have more courageous leaders.