REWIND: In 2014, Natasha Akpoti accused Reno Omokri of sexual harassment — but later deleted post

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi central, on Friday accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment in an interview on Arise TV.

Ekaette, Akpabio’s wife, has now filed multiple lawsuits against Akpoti-Uduaghan, alleging defamation and demanding N250 billion in damages.

The latest face-off followed the change in the seating arrangement in the upper chamber which the Kogi senator protested was a ploy to silence and relegate her.

In the Arise interview, Akpoti-Uduaghan said: “Mine is the case of a student being punished by a lecturer for refusing to sleep with him.”

In 2014, Akpoti-Uduaghan made similar allegation against Reno Omokri, who was then an aide to President Goodluck Jonathan.

On Tuesday, October 12, 2021, Akpoti-Uduaghan posted on her Facebook wall that the former presidential spokesman sexually harassed her on May 6, 2014 during a state banquet for then Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta.

In response, Omokri announced a $50,000 reward for anyone who could provide a photograph or video of him at the Uhuru Kenyatta banquet.

Omokri thereafter published proof that he was not in the country during the event.

He provided a British Airways ticket as well as Nigerian and American immigration stamps on his passport.

Omokri said at the time, he was in the US as a personal envoy of Jonathan, who sent him to counter the negative publicity arising from the kidnap of Chibok schoolgirls.

While in the US, Omokri met and was photographed with state department officials.

Akpoti thereafter deleted all traces of her accusation from her social media profiles.

Omokri later announced that he had received a large sum of money as part of an out-of-court settlement.

Meanwhile, on July 13, 2020, Joy Nunieh, a former acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), alleged that she slapped Akpabio for sexually harassing her.

Nunieh made the allegation during an interview on Arise TV.

Akpabio, the incumbent senate president, was minister of Niger Delta affairs at the time.

Akpabio denied the allegation through a statement issued by his media aide.