The Nigerian Senate has missed a great opportunity to demonstrate transparency in its handling of the dispute between Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen following the suspension of the Kogi Central lawmaker.
Development Diaries reports that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghen has now been sentenced to a six-month ‘holiday’ from the Senate, her office locked, her salary stopped, and her legislative aides also sent packing, barely a week after she accused the senate president of sexual harassment.
Why? Because she supposedly ‘violated Senate rules’ by bringing the Senate to ‘public disgrace’.
If you are wondering which rule says women must endure harassment in silence, well, you are not alone.
It all started with a dispute over seating arrangements, which somehow escalated into allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the senate president himself.
Instead of ensuring a transparent and unbiased investigation into the matter, the Senate chose to silence the accuser while the accused continued to preside over the case like a judge in his own trial.
The committee responsible for reviewing her claims did not even pretend to be fair, dismissing her petition as ‘dead on arrival’ over a technicality.
The speed at which this case was handled is truly impressive. If only they showed the same urgency when tackling corruption, insecurity, or the rising cost of living.
In record time, Akpoti-Uduaghen was investigated, found guilty, sentenced, and escorted out of the Senate chambers, all while the actual allegations remained untouched.
Where is the transparency?
A Senate that claims to uphold ethics and privileges should know that fairness and justice are the foundation of any credible institution. The accusations against Senate President Akpabio are serious, yet no independent investigation has been conducted.
The Ethics Committee moved faster to punish Natasha than to establish the truth. Are we now saying that the most important rule in the Nigerian Senate is ‘Do not embarrass those in power’?
The senate president should have stepped aside from the proceedings that led to her suspension to allow a neutral authority to oversee the deliberations.
Since the allegations against Senator Akpabio remain unaddressed, suspending Senator Akpoti-Uduaghen appears to be an act of political retribution rather than a pursuit of justice. Development Diaries calls on the Senate to reconsider this decision and reinstate her pending a transparent review of the case.
The Nigerian public must insist on an independent investigation into Senator Akpoti-Uduaghen’s allegations. Harassment accusations should not be swept under the red carpet of the Senate chambers.
The Nigerian Senate must prove that it stands for justice and fairness.
