We’ve watched and listened with keen interests the drama that unfolded at the Nigerian Senate, during the plenary on Thursday, February 20, 2025, between the senate president, Godswill Akpabio and his female colleague, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over the purported rearrangement of seat where the later was relocated without her knowledge.
Akpoti-Uduaghan resumed duty on Thursday as usual and on making her way into the chamber for the business of the day found her nameplate missing from her usual seat.
And disturbed by the development, she raised her voice in protest, asking no one in particular to explain to her the reason for the change of sitting position.
Meanwhile, as the plenary commenced, Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North), raised a point of order, alerting Akpabio to Natasha’s “improper sitting position.”
With Monguno still speaking, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan interjected, demanding to know why her seat was changed without her consent.
With the plenary interrupted, Akpabio ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to walk the female legislator out of the chamber, warning that she could face suspension if she continued to be noisy.
“Can the Sergeant-at-Arms please take her out of the Senate?” Akpabio ordered.
Her microphone thereafter was switched off as security personnel made move to execute Akpabio’s orders.
However, the Senator resisted and went on to vent her anger against the treatment meted out to her by the Akpabio-led 10th Senate.
As the situation was escalating, some senators who felt the embarrassment was becoming much, coupled with the fact that the plenary was live on National Televisions intervened, urging calm from both sides. The other two senators from Kogi State, led by Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East) called for calm, while Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) urged Akpoti-Uduaghan to give peace a chance.
In his defence, Akpabio likened the situation to South Africa’s parliament, where opposition leader Julius Malema frequently faces calls to “sit down.”
Recalling a similar incident during his time in the 8th Senate, Akpabio noted that he too had protested a seat reassignment but had handled it with a better sense of decorum.
“In the 8th Senate, my seat was changed without prior notice. I voiced my displeasure, but the matter was resolved internally,” he said.
Meanwhile, After the resumption of the plenary, Senator Jibrin cited Order 42 (Matter of personal explanation) and apologised on behalf of his Kogi State colleague.
On his part, Senator Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) defended the seat reallocation process, describing Natasha’s reaction as unnecessary.
“When she came in, we extended an arm of friendship to her; we love her too much. I don’t know why she turned the place upside down,” he said, urging her to apologise.
Sarcastically, Akpabio in his attempt to show how innocent he was over Akpoti-Uduaghan’s plight said, “Senator Karimi, I can see that you are very hurt. I just want to appeal to you to temper justice with mercy,” he said.
Emphasizing that seat reallocation is a routine exercise governed by the Senate’s Standing Orders. Akpabio clarified that senators must speak from assigned seats but that changes are at the Senate President’s discretion.
“I want the public to understand that our proceedings are governed by rules and the Constitution,” he said.
However, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan has accused Akpabio of maltreatment since the resumption of the 10th Senate. She complained that she has not been treated fairly like others..
She said she has been shortchanged by the Akpabio led Senate leadership in every opportunity that was presented to her as an elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
She noted that every foreign trip she was to embark on alongside her colleagues were taken away from her and she made such important trips with her personal sponsorship because of the people she is representing and Nigeria at large. Also, she complained that she has been removed from juices committees like ‘Local Content’ among others which she was a member of.
Natasha’s previous seat was at the back roll, so if no ill-feeling from the leadership of the Senate as the Senate President wanted the masses to believe, why was her seat arrangement not made in such a way to catapult her to the front roll or at least the middle roll, why extreme back roll?
Why has she been singled out? Is it because she is an opposition member, or is it that the leadership of the Senate wants to quench her vibrancy on the floor of the senate or shutting down the voices of the women in the 10th Senate?
These are some of the questions begging for answers because we can’t understand why a female senator out of the few and who is striving to make a difference in the 10th Senate is receiving this kind of treatment.
In the 9th Senate , Senator Ahmad Lawan treated the few female senators among the 109 senators like gold and he got the best out of them, in terms of debate on the floor of the plenary and in committee assignments, so why is Akpabio’s case different? I guess there is something we are yet to know about the animosity in the 10th Senate against the only vibrant female senator.
The worst is that even her minority leadership has kept tight lips over her plight forcing right thinking Nigerians to keep suspecting a grand conspiracy among the leadership of the Senate. Ordinarily, the Senate minority leader, Senator Abba Moro should have been seen standing for her.
It has come to our notice that what transpired on Thursday is part of what she has been passing through even in committee’s meetings, otherwise, is the arrangement of her seat worth it?
OUR STAND
Whatever is the case between the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the fact that she was elected just like every other senators to represent her senatorial district, she deserve that respect from her colleagues including the Senate President.
That Akpabio faced similar circumstances in the 8th senate should not be a yardstick to subject another senator, particularly a female colleague to go through such experience as a way of transfer of aggression. Ab-initio women are marginalized in the political scheme of our nation, so why chase away the few that are trying to match their male counterparts?
If it is true that most of her privileges have been taken away from her such as; foreign trips, committee membership, we urged the leadership of the Senate to restore them, including her former seat.
The minority leadership of the senate should be bold enough to stand for its members in cases like this. And this harassment of Akpoti-Uduaghan and any other female lawmaker must stop forthwith.
