Igbo United Professionals, IUP, has challenged Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to provide evidence of her sexual harassment allegation against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
This came after the female Senator threatened to release evidence to prove her allegation against Akpabio.
She spoke in reaction to a defence put up by Akpabio’s wife Unoma, in favour of her husband.
However, the IPU, in a statement signed on Saturday by its President, Chief Emmanuel Ikechukwu-Jonathan and made available to newsmen in Enugu, said Senator Natasha was diverting attention from her needless action on the floor of the Senate.
He said, “We have been following up the happenings at the hallowed Chamber of the Senate since the Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan feud with the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
“From our observations and investigations, the cause of the whole issue started with the reallocation of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s seat to a different location in the Chamber by the leadership of the Senate due to some Senators who decamped to the All Progressive Congress (APC) from the opposition parties.
“Based on the rules of the Senate, we are made to know that the leadership of the Senate is empowered to allocate and reallocate seats to Senators and this has been happening to other Senators on several occasions. It is not only peculiar to Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.”
The group maintained that the said act displayed by the female Senator was a disgrace and disrespect to the constituted authority of the Senate, which demands a public apology before whatever objection or evidence she is putting forward.
“We also gathered that part of her disaffection with the Senate leadership was because she was dropped from the chairmanship of the Local Content Committee.
“It is pertinent to note that she was appointed as Chairman of a committee immediately she came to the Senate at the mercy of the Senate President, it is a privilege and not a right.
“The rules of the Senate empowers the Senate President to appoint whoever should be a Committee Chairman or a member. So she can’t because she was dropped from the Chairmanship of a committee to disrespect the Senate President,” the group explained.
The group commended Senator Ireti Kingibe for coming out to clarify Nigerians on the true picture of the happenings in the Senate and corroborating the fact that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was flouting the rules of the Senate.
They said that Senator Kingibe’s revelation also laid to rest Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s emotional blackmail against the Senate as an institution and the Senate President.
While calling on Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan to come forward with evidences of the said harassment, the group said, “Section 131 of the Evidence Act states that any person who desires any Court to give judgment as to any legal right or liability dependent on the existence of facts shall assert and prove that those facts exist.”
“We have seen pictures of the Akpabio family visiting the Akpoti-Uduaghan’s family which implies that they are very close. So, why did she not make use of her cordiality with the Akpabio family to start addressing the challenges she was experiencing if her allegations were anything close to the truth,” IUP queried.
The group commended the wife of the Senate President, Her Excellency, Mrs. Unoma Akpabio, for standing by her husband.