The Drama Unfolding in the Nigerian Senate
ICMS, Inc. Reports
Commentary:
by Tom Okure, Ph.D
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A tell-it-all drama is slowly unfolding in the Nigerian Senate between the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
In an ongoing feud and drama in the Nigerian Senate, a female senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a lawsuit against Nigerian Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio alleging defamation by Akpabio and his senior aide Mfon Patrick.
In the lawsuit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on 25 February through her attorney, Victor
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| Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, President of the Senate |
Giwa, Senator Natasha is demanding N100 billion in general damages and N300 million to cover her litigation costs. According to allegations in the lawsuit, Mr. Mfon Patrick published a defamatory post on Facebook after a heated argument that occurred last Thursday between Senate President Akpabio and Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan over a change in her seat in the Senate chamber. Apparently, this is not the first incident between Akpabio and Nathasha, consequently, one can suppose that the two are not good friends.
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| Senator Natasha in the Senate Chamber |
BEREKETE program that perhaps the Nigerian Senate Media office should pay attention to and correct. In the interview, Natasha complains that she is constantly being harassed and has been quiet for a long time because she didn't want to be misinterpreted wrongly. She just wants to be left alone to do the job which she was elected to do for her constituency.
Nathasha alleges that she is deliberately sidelined in the Senate and that many of her Senate privileges have been denied her unjustly. She gives many examples of being discriminated against, including being removed from many international travel events that she was supposed to be part of.
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| The Lawsuit against Godswill Akpabio by Senator Natasha Apoti |
She mentions a United Nations activity she was not allowed to attend. By limiting her ability to attend many international functions, she alleges that the Senate leadership is "limiting her ability to attract democratic dividends to her constituency." She further complains about being removed from the Senate Committee on Local Content over alledged claims that she was using her office to divert resources intended for the Niger Delta to her region. Under these circumstances, Natasha states that she has been forced to use her own personal resources to fund her official trips abroad to deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians and her constituency.
Regarding her recent Senate floor outburst where she directly challenged the Senate President over a new seat assignment which she objected to vehemently, Senator Natasha states that the seat assigned to her "is a far corner seat where no one will notice if I raise my hand." In that far corner, seat according to Senator Natasha "It will be difficult for the camera to capture me" among the 109 Senators in the Senate red chamber. The key takeaway point that Natasha makes in her complaint is the fact
that the seat allocation assigned to her will not give her adequate exposure.
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| Natasha at her Senate Office. Source: her Facebook page. |
The particular incident that appears to trigger her lawsuit against the Senate President Godswill Akpabio stems from a recent Facebook post, titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright.”
In the article, Akpabio's senior aide Mr. Mfon Patrick states that "It is bottled up anger by the Kogi lawmaker, who knows nothing about Legislative rules. Mr. Mfon Patrick further states in his Facebook article that "she thinks that being a lawmaker is all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the Chambers.”
Public sentiments over the lawsuit and remarks are varied in the social media, with some commentators on the matter supporting the Senate President, while many other commentators oppose the remarks of his senior aide as uncalled for and very disrespectful to the female Senator. Indeed, if this incident occurred in the western world, women advocacy groups would be very outraged, and would protest against such remarks as chauvinistic and intolerable in any governmental setting, not to talk of in the legislature.
One can suppose that after such a display and outburst as Natasha displayed recently on the Senate Chamber, Senator Godwill Akpabio as the Senate President has taken notice of her complaint, and would instruct his media office to look into the matter urgently to ensure that the senate cameras provide adequate coverage to all members in the senate chamber, even if the member is isolated in a far corner, as Nathasa complained about. Proper camera positioning, view and exposure of each senator is necessary to enable each senator to air their views adequately during floor debates without hindrance. Senator Natasha's outspokenness in her media interview further suggested that an internal power struggle may be brewing within the Senate Chamber.
Senator Natasha does not appear to be finished with her agitation and complaints over the harassment and injustice that she claims she has endured for a long time in the male-dominated Nigerian Senate. She vows to reveal and expose Senator Godswill Akpabio over the next coming weeks, and in a planned national television interview, she is going to make. Her brawl with the Senate President over seating re-arrangement seems to have awoken her silence and latent anger over a past incident where she accused Senator Akpabio of undermining her efforts and contributions within the red chamber. Because of the public outcry over the previous matter at the time, Senator Akpabio had publicly apologized to her over the unguarded "Nightclub" remark he made.
We await more follow-up drama regarding this unsatisfactory seat allocation and defamatory issue matters, especially because the Nigerian Senate leadership has referred Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to the senate’s disciplinary committee over her alleged procedural infraction on the chamber floor.
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All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D. CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc. (or ICMS Inc.). ICMS, Inc., is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York
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