….Says Natasha’s suspension conclusive
By Citizenship Daily
The Senate at its plenary on Thursday passed a vote of confidence on the President of the Senate Godswill Akpabio as a way of putting to rest the distraction brought by the sexual harassment allegation by the suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central).
This is coming just as the Inter Parliamentary Union, IPU, the global unnio has resolved to investigate the allegation after Senator Natasha presented her complaint tonthe Union on Wednesday.
The IPU is a global organisation of all Parliaments consisting of 181 members including Nigeria.
Today, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central) raised point of order to draw the attention of the Senate to the distraction the allegation has brought to senators from their mandate in the last two weeks and the negative perception in the public space and urged the Senate to “lay the matter to rest”.
Opeyemi restated that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was not suspended for bringing sexual harassment allegation against Akpabio, but for misconduct allegation brought against her by the Senate spokesperson, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South), which was referred to Ethics Committee.
According to the Leader, the sexual harassment allegation by Natasha is before the court of law and the Senate will not delve into that.
He said the Senate needed to let the general public know that the Senate will never do anything to subvert the course of justice, but needed to put to rest the Natasha suspension matter, to enable the lawmakers concentrate on important national issues.
He therefore moved a motion for a vote of confidence on Akpabio so that the Senate can remain focused in attending to Tax Reform Bills and the details of the 2025 budget breakdown now before them.
The motion for a vote of confidence was seconded by the Senate Minority Leader and when the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over Thursday’s plenary put it to vote, it received a loud “aye”.
