Nasarawa APC chairman blows hot on Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan suspension

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In defense of the Senate’s decision to suspend Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, Aliyu Bello, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State, has stated that the action is in accordance with legislative norms and should not be construed as gender bias.

On Thursday, the Senate affirmed the Ethics Committee’s decision to suspend the member from Kogi Central after she filed a petition accusing Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment. On procedural grounds, the committee rejected her accusations, claiming that her behavior had made the upper chamber laugh.

Bello argued that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension was an act of enforcing legislative order rather than discrimination in an opinion post titled “Akpabio, Natasha, and Senate: A Question of Rules, Not Gender.”

He cited previous cases in which male senators were subject to comparable disciplinary measures, like as Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s (APC, Delta Central) 90-day suspension in 2018 and Senator Abdul Ningi’s (PDP, Bauchi Central) 2023 suspension due to accusations of budget padding.

“The Nigerian Senate has a well-documented history of suspending members—male and female—who breach its rules,” Bello stated. “Why, then, should Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s case be framed differently?”

Additionally, he contended that equating her suspension with gender marginalization ran the risk of trivializing real equity struggles. According to him, “The Senate’s disciplinary mechanisms are gender-blind, prioritizing institutional integrity over individual identity.”

None of the 109 senators, including those from Akpoti-Uduaghan’s party, opposed the suspension, Bello underlined. He stressed that upholding order requires uniform enforcement of legislative norms and urged proponents of gender equality to concentrate on structural obstacles rather than isolated incidents.

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension has sparked intense discussion, with some claiming the Senate is single-out for a female senator. Bello’s position, however, supports the Senate’s contention that disciplinary measures must be administered impartially.

It is anticipated that the case’s debate will persist as supporters of Akpoti-Uduaghan call for an review of the decision, while others maintain that legislative discipline must be maintained.

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