*hails Sen Kingibe for standing by the truth
Igbo United Professionals (IUP) has described the actions of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over the decision of the Senate to change her seat, as disrespectful to not only the Senate as an institution but the womanhood in general.
The group said this in statement signed by its President, Chief Emmanuel Ikechukwu-Jonathan, Esq, and made available to newsmen in Enugu.
The IUP maintained that Sen. Akpoti’s follow up actions in the media where she deviated from the original subject matter to employing emotional blackmail against the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio and by implication the Senate, was highly unfortunate.
They noted that her act did not only bring disrepute to the entire Senate as a body but also to the womanhood, because she is supposed to know that she should be a role model to many at the level she is currently operating.
According to Igbo United Professionals, “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.
“So, as a result of the decamping development that occured in the Senate, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s seat was changed, and instead of her to respect the rules that empowered such action, she turned the hallowed Chamber of the Senate in to a typical market session with an uncultured attack on the person of the Senate President and the entire Senate as a body.
“All efforts by the Senate President to inform her that she is not permitted to speak from the seat she was speaking from fell on deaf ears.”
IUP said that if Senator Natasha was truly cultured as an African woman, she would have quietly apologized and moved to the seat where she was authorized to speak from, but instead she kept shouting on top of her voice that she was not afraid of the Senate President and will go all out to fight him back.
The group maintained that the said act alone 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 take because she was dropped from the Chairmanship of a committee to disrespect the Senate President,” the group explained.
They wondered why Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan chose to come to the media to employ emotional blackmail against the Senate President and be alleging that she was being harassed, instead of quietly honouring the invitation of the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee of the Senate to defend herself.
The group noted that the act of alleging sexual harassment on male folks that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had encounter with was her stock in trade, adding, “this information is out there in the public domain and it does not tell well of her personality. Silence is golden and it is an act of wisdom too.”
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 Akpoti-Uduaghan was flouting the rules of the Senate.
IUP while describing Senator Kingibe as a true African mother who will always stand by the truth no matter the situation, said her revelation of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s flagrant disrespect to the Senate rules was highly appreciated by Nigerians.
They said that Senator Kingibe’s revelation also laid to rest Akpoti-Uduaghan’s emotional blackmail against the Senate as an institution and the Senate President.
While calling on Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to come forward with evidence of the said harassment she alleged against the Senate President, IUP maintained that if her allegations were backed with facts, why did she not report her experiences to the wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Unoma Akpabio, since they were family friends.
According to the group, “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 while commending Mrs. Akpabio, for standing by her husband at this trying times, maintained that they were fully by her family, and will not fold their hands to watch an ingrate drag the number three citizen of the country to the mud.
