“She enjoys more privileges than other female senators”, Ireti Kingibe blasts Natasha

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

Senator Ireti Kingibe, representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has disputed allegations made by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central.

Akpoti-Uduaghan recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment and claimed that other female senators, including Kingibe, had not supported her in her ordeal.

Speaking on Arise TV, Kingibe countered Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims, stating that Akpabio actually favours her more than any other female senator.

Kingibe explained that she had attempted to reach out to Akpoti-Uduaghan to discuss the seating arrangement controversy but was rebuffed.

She noted that Akpoti-Uduaghan enjoys special privileges from the Senate leadership, unlike other female senators.

Her words: “The reason you’ve heard it said everywhere, that the three women in the Senate have been silent, yes, because silence is golden, especially when one of us is not following the rules.

And as women, we did not want to come out publicly to say anything negative about her, and we were hoping all of this would blow over as a lot of things do.

“Now, the truth of the matter is, yes, the Senate is not gender friendly, but it has been improving much better than when we first entered the Senate, I must say.

“And the truth of the matter is, when we make a first and we draw the attention of the Senate president, he does correct it. Truly the Senate can do better than he’s doing, but there’s hardly anything that’s been done to us that’s not done to other men.

“It is more appropriate to say that the Senate is not opposition-friendly. Now, the Senate leadership may not be gender friendly, but I must say, the majority of the senators, they are very kind, and they are conciliatory to us. They look out for the fact that women. Almost all of them have been there before. They guide us on – do it like this, do it that way.

“And slowly, even I, I can say without anybody repudiating that fact that I am the singular senator that fights the senate president the most. But I have learned to do it.

“If it arises on plenary, I deal with it there, especially when it’s on issues to do with my constituency when it’s on other issues of privileges, I go and meet him when all the senators are in the dining room, and I fight with him there and get the support of other senators.

“The Senate is a place where the majority takes the day. So then also, I want to say something – us women in the Senate, in fact, to be honest, Senator Natasha has gotten the most privilege of all the four of us.

“The seats I’m sitting in now have been moved four times. Senator Ipalibo Banigo has been moved at least twice.

“I wanted to say that this is about the rules of the Senate. So if I can point out that other women have been moved several times.

“On that day, I wasn’t there, but I gathered that several men were also moved, and I’m only here as chairp. erson of Women Affairs.

“I want women to know we have to follow the rules of the institution we choose to enter, and that is mostly the point of this visit here.

“Whether there’s sexual harassment between them, they already had personal relationships before they came to the Senate. Three of us had no relationship with the Senator before we came.

“I don’t have enough of a relationship with Senator Akpabio to discuss sexual harassment with Senator Akpabio. When I go to the Senate, my neighbours or Senator Natasha is not there, I collect documents on their behalf. I collected some for Senator Natasha, informed her, and she said she was home. I went to her house.

“I got there, she told me after offering a meal, that she’s supposed to discuss something with him, and he said to me in some hotel. I said to her, ‘you only meet senators in their homes or offices.”

The controversy began when Akpabio reassigned Akpoti-Uduaghan’s seat, a move she strongly resisted during a heated plenary session.

Her defiance led to a confrontation in which she accused Akpabio of violating her parliamentary privileges.

In response, the Senate voted to refer her conduct to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions for review.

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