How Akpabio ‘Flirted’ With Me Inside Senate, Natasha Tells BBC

Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has doubled down on her sexual harassment accusation against Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, insisting he flirted with her in his office at the National Assembly.

The Kogi Senator restated her accusation while speaking to the BCC.

She insisted Senate Akpabio sexually harassed her, stressing that, “I am being victimised. My suspension is a means of silencing me.”

The senator was suspended from the senate on March 6 for “gross misconduct” following a fallout in the senate chamber over a change of seat.

But the suspension came after she accused Akpabio of sexual harassment raising serious concerns and was widely condemned.

She revealed that the sexual harassment was unbearable and too many to count, saying, “It was episode after episode, moment after moment.

“We were at his country home. He was taking me around his house. My husband was walking behind us. He held my hand.

“He then squeezed my hands in a very suggestive way. We women know what it means when a man squeezes our hands in a suggestive way.

“And he went, ‘Now that you’re in the senate, I’ll make an opportunity for us to come here and have a good moment’, you know, along that line.”

Asked if Akpabio ever made any advances towards her in the chamber or the senate, she said:

“There was a time when I rushed to work forgetting to wear my ring; there were about five senators there. He said, ‘Oh Natasha, you are not wearing your ring; is this an invitation to treat?’ You know, statements like this.”

Responding to the interview, Senate’s Deputy Chief Whip, Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, countered the flesh revelation, saying there was never a time Akpabio made sexual advances towards Akpoti-Uduaghan.

He also said the senate president never made any inappropriate comments towards the female lawmaker, whether in his country home or the senate chamber.

Nwaebonyi also rejected Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claim that the senate was trying to silence her.

“Senator Natasha’s legislative activities show this claim is not true,” he said.

How Akpabio ‘Flirted’ With Me Inside Senate, Natasha Tells BBC is first published on The Whistler Newspaper