• Says Akpabio Should Step Down For Transparent Probe
By Abiola Olawale
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has issued a scathing condemnation of the six-month suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from the Nigerian Senate.
This is as the opposition party described the suspension as a politically motivated attempt to silence her voice and suppress serious allegations of sexual harassment levelled against the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, the lawmaker representing Kogi Central Senatorial District of Kogi State at the Senate, under the PDP banner, was suspended on March 6, 2025, following a recommendation by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions.
The suspension stemmed from a confrontation with Akpabio. In a strongly worded press statement released on March 7, 2025, by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP decried the suspension as an affront to justice and parliamentary conventions.
The party argued that the hasty decision, made without an open investigation into Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegations, “not only violated the principle of fair hearing but also portrayed the Senate as an institution that endorses, condones, and offers protection to reprobacy.”
The PDP emphasized that the suspension effectively denies the people of Kogi Central their constitutional right to representation for half a year, calling it an “excessively harsh” and “abusive” exercise of power.
The party further demanded that Akpabio submit himself to an open and independent investigation to address the allegations, pointing out that this is not the first time such claims have been made against him.
The party referenced a prior accusation by Dr Joi Nunieh, former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), who alleged sexual harassment by Akpabio during his tenure as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
The statement reads in part: “The party observes that the hasty suspension of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan without an open investigation into the weighty allegation of sexual harassment against the Senate President not only negates the principle of fair hearing especially in the parliamentary convention but also portrays the Senate as an institution that endorses, condones and offers protection to reprobacy.
“It is scandalous, and amounts to gross abuse of office and violation of the fundamentals of justice and fair hearing to sit as a judge in a matter in which he is the accused; a situation which validates public apprehension of a desperation by the embattled Senate President to suppress open legislative probe into the allegation of sexual harassment levelled against him.
“If Senator Akpabio has nothing to hide, what Nigerians expected of him was to clear his name by stepping aside in line with established parliamentary practice, allow and submit to an open and unbiased investigation into the allegation of sexual harassment by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.
“It is indeed a national embarrassment that the person of the Senate President and Chairman of the National Assembly is being mentioned in a case of sexual harassment which has now tarred the image and integrity of the highest lawmaking body in Nigeria. Ordinarily, under this situation, the Senate President needs no prodding to step aside for an independent investigation to clear his name.
“More distressing is the fact that since Senator Akpabio assumed office as the Senate President, the leadership of the Senate has been largely unfocused and constantly embroiled in scandals including allegations of financial impropriety as well as negligence and abdication of its constitutional duty of checks and balances to the excesses of the Executive arm to the detriment of millions of Nigerians.”
