Akpabio/Natasha: Yet another perspective (II)

BY SIMON IMOBO-TSWAM

…continued from the first part

However, the battle was only just beginning – the election proper was ahead. And it was a most gruelling experience. As D-Day approached, the then-incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello, a kinsman who was not a candidate in the senatorial election, swore that the PDP candidate would never smell victory.

Among the things he did to stop Natasha was to allegedly destroy five roads leading to her place so as to prevent INEC officials from taking electoral materials there! It took a serious legal battle to reclaim her stolen mandate, but even then, she took her senate seat six months late.

In the senate, despite coming late and despite being a first-timer, she chaired three committees and sat on other very important committees. If her name were Statusquo, and not Disruption; or if she were normal, this Stormy Petrel would not raise the storm that is now in the gym, doing press-ups so as to become a tsunami.

Sadly for her, this unconventional Ebira woman is up against another uncommon person, a real son of Annang, and Akwa Ibom state’s biggest export to Abuja i.e. Barr. Obot Godswill Akpabio, ex-commissioner, ex-governor, ex-minister and now, senate president.

You see, she is a lawyer, and lawyers know many things. That’s why they say they are “learned.” But even “learned” people don’t know everything. Natasha may be a fighter, but what she doesn’t know is that Akpabio is not a diplomat either.

As a lawyer in Lagos, he fought, to a stand-still, criminals, lawbreakers, impersonators, players of the system and those who obtained by trick! As commissioner for lands, he fought land grabbers, land speculators and land racketeers with uncommon tenacity!

When he wanted to be governor, but the incumbent governor, Victor Attah, would have none of it, preferring his son-in-law, Hon. Bob Ekarika, Akpabio did not fear the awesome powers of the incumbent – he fought Obong Attah and his protege with uncommon ferocity. The Akpabio-Attah challenge spilled over Uyo and extended to Abuja. And after high-stake meetings at the Wadata Plaza and Aso Villa, the dogged and rugged Akpabio returned to Uyo triumphantly.

As the then minister of Niger Delta Affairs, the uncommon Akpabio fought everyone who did not share in his uncommon vision for the ministry, especially the NDDC; and proceeded to mould the commission in his image.

In the race for senate president, the outgoing Ahmad Lawan did not support him. He was rather mobilising support for another contender. But the fearless Annang man took on the Yobe man, headlong. In the end, Lawan, of the contrived consensus fame, capitulated.  That’s Akpabio for you: He may appear jovial, breezy and convivial, but deep down, the handsome and urbane Akpabio is rugged, jagged and audacious!

As senate president, he runs the place like a no-nonsense headmaster with his SSS Code i.e. Strict, stern and stringent. He can share “prayers” to colleagues via their bank accounts for “safe journeys,” but under his senate superintendence, suspension seems to be wrapped around the gavel. And what he can’t get via voice vote, he gets through the gavel.

When you have God in your name (Godswill), you preside over the most powerful senate in the world and you are an uncommon man, you may be forgiven for thinking you can play god. Even when you are a lawyer, you can ignore the principle of “Nemo judet in causa sua” which means you cannot be a judge in your own case.

Against the grain of logic, fair play and natural justice, Akpabio, a man of uncommon standing and uncommon doings, has refused to recuse himself since this crisis broke. He has been a judge in his own matter!

Additionally, he has influence over the members of the ethics and privileges committee. And, by coincidence, its chairman is a man heavily burdened by intercontinental moral baggage! It was the committee he chose that was saddled with the task of hearing the petition of sexual harassment against him. Still, he refused to appear before it! It doesn’t get more twisted.

Personally, I believe the distinguished Akpabio is innocent of the charge. So, was he too busy with matters of state to appear before the committee? Was he indisposed? Or did his busy schedule crowd out the petition before the committee? Whatever, his non-appearance is spawning bizarre and uncomfortable theories from the rumour mill – one of which is that an innocent man who is unwilling to prove his innocence before a committee of friends may be an innocent man unwilling to take any chances!

And then, rather than allow the committee chairman to read the outcome of his committee, Akpabio took charge: He read out the recommendations himself and took a most controversial vote count.

Judicial rulings have pegged the number of days a lawmaker can be suspended at 14 – the committee recommended, among other things: six months, a suspension of her pay and those of her aides, the locking up her office and barring her from the vicinity of the National assembly!

It was an overkill. Even before Akpabio would finish the job with the gavel, the committee had already finished Natasha with their sledgehammer! In forensic psychology which I am fairly familiar with, when someone (man or woman) is murdered, and the force, gunshots or stab wounds are excessive, the crime investigators isolate personal, emotional involvement.

The aggrieved party has gone to court, but that’s a terrain Akpabio is very familiar with. And knowing that justice from there is increasingly becoming a matter of probability, the advice to Natasha is to, quoting Fr. Mfa Ukeyima, “rush slowly.”

That 108 colleagues are silent is a testament to the power at play.  That a female colleague was the first and the quickest to throw her under the bus is another message. Even the presidential endorsement of the senate president at this material time speaks volumes!

However, the point being missed is that it’s not Natasha per se who is on trial – she is only a metaphor. She may be the woman on the spot, but it is women in general, especially those in the workplace, that are on trial in the furnace of injustice.

I am at a loss why the usually vocal civil society has travelled or the other women groups.  But the implication is that with this insistent voice being muffled, tomorrow no lady will dare talk about harassment or predation from the workplace or the classroom. A hostile crowd, including honourable women, will shout her down after shaming her. The kind ones among them may ask her to bring her “evidence” – as if digital predators are dumb or careless, and must leave a trail of love letters, threatening text messages or salacious chats!

The Great Akpabio, perhaps, without meaning to, has inaugurated an imperial reign at the senate. And it fits his ebullient and cavalier demeanour. This is the uncommon man Natasha is up against. It’s an uneven match. Her case is not helped that she is a minority woman, from the Middle Belt, married to another minority man, from the south-south.

At crucial times like these, even faith takes a back seat! From the north to the south-west, the silence is deafening. The lesson here is this: Geography is very important.

Let me return to Demi Moore and wrap up this piece. She was the lead character (Meredith Johnson) in the 1994 movie, Disclosure. Starring alongside her was Michael Douglas (Tom Sanders). Michael is her ex, but they meet this time in a tech firm, Demi More (Meredith) is her boss. Michael (Tom) has a big promotion in sight, and everything looks set. Then, boom: Demi Moore/Meredith, after a failed seduction, accuses him of sexual harassment!

What follows is an earthquake. Michael denies this to heaven and back, but no one believes him – not his superiors, not his colleagues and not his wife! In the end, he is saved only at the last minute, but the damage is already done.

It is his defence that interests me here since it’s central to this perspective. He said something to the effect that “sexual harassment is about power; I am the victim here.”

Yes, sexual harassment is real, but it is not about gender – it’s about power. This is why predator or prey can be both male and female. The common denominator is power.

Those who have it, but are not disciplined enough, engage in serial predatory escapades. And the victims can only cry and stew in their trauma. In climes where institutions are strong and crime doesn’t pay, victims may get justice. But in Africa where strong men rule and weak institutions genuflect before them, victims may only look upwards for miracles. We don’t get to know who is guilty and we don’t get to know who is innocent. It is the way it is.

Imobo-Tswam, a retired newspaper editor, writes from Abuja. He can be contacted via [email protected].