Nasarawa State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aliyu Bello, has defended the Senate’s determination to droop Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, arguing that the transfer aligns with legislative procedures and shouldn’t be interpreted as gender bias.
The Senate, on Thursday, upheld the advice of its Ethics Committee to droop the Kogi Central lawmaker following her petition alleging sexual harassment by Senate President Godswill Akpabio. The committee dismissed her claims on procedural grounds, asserting that her actions had introduced ridicule to the higher chamber.
In an opinion piece titled “Akpabio, Natasha, and Senate: A Query of Guidelines, Not Gender,” Bello contended that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension was a matter of implementing legislative order reasonably than an act of discrimination. He pointed to previous situations the place male senators confronted related disciplinary actions, together with the 2018 suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central) for 90 days and the 2023 suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) over funds padding allegations.
“The Nigerian Senate has a well-documented historical past of suspending members—female and male—who breach its guidelines,” Bello acknowledged. “Why, then, ought to Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s case be framed otherwise?”
He additional argued that equating her suspension with gender marginalization risked trivializing real struggles for fairness. Based on him, “The Senate’s disciplinary mechanisms are gender-blind, prioritizing institutional integrity over particular person identification.”
Bello emphasised that in a Senate of 109 lawmakers, no member—together with these from Akpoti-Uduaghan’s social gathering—opposed the suspension. He maintained that implementing parliamentary guidelines uniformly is vital to sustaining order, urging advocates of gender equality to concentrate on systemic obstacles reasonably than remoted circumstances.
The suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan has ignited widespread debate, with critics accusing the Senate of concentrating on a feminine lawmaker. Nevertheless, Bello’s stance aligns with the Senate’s argument that disciplinary actions have to be utilized with out bias.
The controversy surrounding the case is predicted to proceed, as supporters of Akpoti-Uduaghan demand a overview of the choice, whereas others insist that legislative self-discipline have to be upheld.
