Following a meeting with Senate President Godswill Akpabio over the complaint submitted by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) pledged to take all necessary action.
According to reports, Akpabio was taken to the IPU by Natasha because of her six-month suspension and sexual harassment claims.
Speaking at the United Nations Women in Parliament session in New York, Natasha told the IPU that Akpabio had allegedly victimized her.
Natasha demanded that international democratic institutions step in during an impassioned address, claiming that her expulsion from the Nigerian Senate was unfair and illegal.
Tulia Ackson, the IPU President, responded to her complaint by saying that before the organization could move further, it would also listen to Akpabio.
“During the first session that we had this morning, a matter came up,” Ackson stated. We all listened to our Nigerian colleague, Senator Natasha, bring up the issue, and it would only benefit us if I added a few words to what she said.
I would like to state that we have heard her concerns and that, as is customary for IPU, we will be taking the concerns that have been raised into consideration, not only taking her side but also giving the other side a chance to be heard. This would have given us all a chance to better understand what she has said, but we only listened to her side. We shall also take any required action after hearing the opposing viewpoint.
I believed that we needed to discuss it briefly before we could move it along. We have taken care of, or taken into consideration, the issues she brought up, and we will be working on them. Naturally, we have listened to the other side, and we will then be able to take action.
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Honorable Cavid, I also acknowledge that our Nigerian delegate, who is present, asked to speak, but she was not given the opportunity due to time constraints.
As I mentioned before, we have listened to Senator Natasha’s concerns, but we have also acknowledged that you would have wanted to speak to us, but there was not enough time for you to do so.
IPU will handle this issue as we typically do when similar issues are brought up in meetings like this one, having said that.
