Senate Closes Sexual Harassment Case Against Akpabio

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, Neda Imaseun, has announced that the sexual harassment case involving Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is officially closed within the Senate.

Imaseun made this statement on Tuesday in response to claims from Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyer, Abiola Akiode, who accused him of being biased in handling the case. The issue had gained widespread attention, but according to Imaseun, no further action will be taken at the Senate level.

Earlier, Akiode had called for Imaseun to step down as chairman of the committee, arguing that his involvement could prevent a fair and just process.

“Our intention is that, if we are going to proceed, we want the chair to please step down from this conversation to allow for fairness and justice in accordance with the constitution of this country,” Akiode stated.

However, in his response, Imaseun made it clear that the matter was already in court, and the committee would no longer intervene.

“Let me tell you, the first petition that came before us was signed by Distinguished Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Contrary to our rules, you cannot sign your own petition. The petition that came before us did not even have an address. Contrary to our rules, that petition shouldn’t have been entertained,” he explained.

Imaseun further argued that if Akiode believed he was biased, then the entire Senate must also be considered biased since all senators were present when the incident occurred.

“In any case, for the position that I can see you are taking, it means the whole Senate is biased. Because the whole Senate witnessed what happened. So, I don’t know what ad-hoc committee you are going to constitute that is not aware of what has been going on,” he said.

Referring to Senate rules, he pointed out that ongoing legal cases should not be discussed in the chamber.

“Learned respondent (Akpabio’s counsel) has just told us that this matter is before the law court, and I will address that by our rule book. I will address that by our rule book, order 40 (7), which says ‘Senate should not receive or deliberate on any matter to which actions are pending in any court of law.’ This is our rule book,” Imaseun stated.

Since both sides had raised concerns—the petitioner refusing to proceed due to alleged bias, and the respondent acknowledging the case was already before the court—Imaseun said the Senate committee would step aside and let the judiciary handle the matter.

“Therefore, the petitioner said he would not speak to his petition because the committee is biased. The respondent has just told us that this case is before a competent court of law. Therefore, this committee will allow the court of law, that will not be biased, to handle this matter,” he said.

With that, Imaseun declared, “Therefore, this matter is closed here at the Senate and it is adjourned sine die.”

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