My trouble in senate started when I refused Akpabio’s sexual advances, Natasha Akpoti alleges

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi central, has alleged that her trouble in the senate began after she rejected sexual advances from Senate President Godswill Akpabio. 

Akpoti-Uduaghan made the accusation during an interview with Arise TV on Friday.

“Mine is the case of a student being punished by a lecturer for refusing to sleep with him,” she said.

On February 20, Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan engaged in a heated debate on the floor of the upper legislative chamber over a change in seating arrangements.

The disagreement began when Akpoti-Uduaghan’s seat was reassigned at the start of plenary. However, she refused to comply with the relocation.

‘JUST TAKE CARE OF ME’

Speaking during the interview, the senator said the sexual advances were made when she and her husband visited Akpabio’s home in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, for the senate president’s birthday celebration in December 2023.

“The seat change was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Many people don’t know what I’m about to say but I’m going to speak my own truth. The senate president is allowed to counter that,” she said.

“It all started on 8th December, 2023, which was a day before his birthday and mine — we are birthday mates. We were all in Akwa Ibom because he had a big fanfare in the stadium. Myself, my husband, and a few of his close friends.

“At first, we were in his house in Ikot-Ekpene. Then we all moved to his house in Uyo at about 8pm. He held my hands and he said he wanted to show me round his house. My husband was walking behind us, just the three of us.

“We were walking around from room to room. He showed me the beautiful interior.

“I noticed that he hastened his pace while still holding my hands and my husband was behind on his phone. But he was catching up wherever he could. He got to this particular sitting room and he said ‘do you like my house’. I said, of course sir.

“He said ‘now that you are a senator, I’m going to create time for us to come and spend quality moment here’. You will enjoy it. At that point, I just pulled away… that I don’t understand what he meant.”

The Kogi senator said her husband, who was walking closely behind, asked her what the senate president said, adding that she refused to disclose what Akpabio said.

Her husband would later instruct her not to travel out of the country alone or visit Akpabio’s guest house ever again, she said.

Akpoti-Uduaghan also alleged that when she met Akpabio at his office for repeatedly stepping down her motions, the senate president told her that she could “enjoy a whole lot if she takes care of him”.

Eseme Eyiboh, special adviser on media and public affairs to Akpabio, did not respond to messages and phone calls when TheCable reached out for a reaction to the allegations.

On February 25, the senate referred Akpoti-Uduaghan to the committee on ethics, privileges, and public petitions for disciplinary review over the altercation on seating arrangements.