Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s satirical ‘apology’ to Senate President Godswill Akpabio highlights the Nigerian Senate’s failure to initiate an independent investigation into the sexual harassment allegations made against Senator Akpabio.
Development Diaries reports that the suspended Kogi Central Senator posted a satirical apology on her official Facebook page, apologising for her ‘crime of maintaining dignity and self-respect’ in the Senate.
Recall that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghen was sentenced to a six-month ‘holiday’ by the Senate barely a week after she accused the Senate president of sexual harassment.
In a country where democratic institutions are already under siege from within, it seems the suspension of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan is an ominous message: integrity and dignity are punishable offences.
Rather than address the serious allegations made with urgency and transparency, the Senate chose to silence her, withdrawing her security, locking her office, and suspending her pay, actions that are similar to tactics used to suppress dissent during authoritarian regimes.
Let’s be clear, rejecting harassment is not misconduct. Standing up for one’s dignity is not a violation of legislative procedure. And demanding accountability from leadership is not insubordination; it is democracy in action.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s appeal to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is a courageous move, but it reflects a failure of Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
In a functioning democracy, such an appeal should not be necessary, as section 39 of the Nigerian constitution guarantees freedom of expression, not selective suppression.
While the government’s response was to launch a probe into how she attended the IPU meeting, not into the grave allegations she raised, the misplaced priority is a glaring example of institutional gaslighting, punishing the whistleblower instead of the wrongdoing.
From the outset, this matter required an independent and unbiased investigation. Anything less is a dangerous signal that Nigeria’s legislative chambers are becoming a playground for impunity.
And until there is justice, the suspension of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan will remain an ugly stain on the fabric of Nigeria’s democracy.
