–—-Suspended Lawmaker Raises Alarm Over Planned Arrest Upon Return To Abuja
By Tonia Okereke
The travails of the Senator Representing Kogi West, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, have taken another turn with intelligence agencies launching a probe into her appearance at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had told the IPU that she was unjustly suspended by the Nigerian Senate. The lawmaker who stated that she wasn’t at the meeting to bring shame to Nigeria but to tell the UN about her predicament is now under investigation by the intelligence agencies.
“I come with a heavy heart from Nigeria,” she began. “But I’m not here to bring shame to my country, I’m here to seek help for the women of Nigeria.”
She explained that after submitting a petition against Akpabio, she had expected a fair investigation. Instead, she was suspended, her security withdrawn, her official vehicles seized, and her salary cut off.
“Five days ago, on the 6th of March, 2025, I was suspended as a senator illegally because I submitted a petition of sexual harassment against the President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio. I thought that by submitting the petition, he would recuse himself and both of us would submit ourselves to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petition for a fair and transparent investigation, but unfortunately, I was silenced and I was suspended.”
“If a female senator can be treated this way in full view of the world, imagine what ordinary Nigerian women go through every day in workplaces and universities”, she added.
Responding to the lawmaker, IPU President ,Tulia Ackson, said IPU would investigate the matter but would also allow the Nigerian Senate to present its side of the story.
However, a Nigerian delegate to the IPU meeting, Kafilat Ogbara, countered Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims when she (Ogbara) addressed journalists at the UN secretariat a day after the former ’s attendance at the IPU meeting.
In a latest development, Premium Times quotes a high-ranking administration official and two top security officials involved in the inquiry said the State Security Service (SSS) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), are investigating how Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan attended the international meeting without approval, who facilitated her trip and accreditation, and whether her participation was organised by groups to embarrass Nigeria, its government and its people.
According to the paper, the intelligence agencies are looking into the process by which the suspended lawmaker was able to attend the IPU meeting in New York as delegates to the conference are usually nominated by their parliaments.
—–Suspended Lawmaker Raises Alarm Over Planned Arrest Upon Return To Abuja
Meanwhile Premium Times quotes Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as saying there are plans to arrest her immediately she arrives Abuja.
“I’m aware there are plans underway to have me arrested as soon as I arrive Abuja,” the Senator, who is still in the US after the IPU meeting, told PT.
The senator did not, however, say which of the security agencies was plotting her arrest.
Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan also told Premium Times that shortly after her speech at the IPU meeting, the Senate President sent three officials led by the Chargé d’affairs of the Nigerian Embassy in New York to forcibly remove her from the United Nations premises during the IPU meeting.
“The Senate President Akpabio sent three staff headed by the Chargè D’Affairs of the Nigerian embassy in New York to evacuate me from the United Nations premises right after my speech. I was rescued by parliamentarians from other countries and the security,” she alleged.
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