NATASHA CALLS NIGERIAN SENATE A ‘CULT’, SAYS SUSPENSION MEANS OF SILENCING HER – INTERVIEW WITH BBC

NATASHA CALLS NIGERIAN SENATE A CULT., SAYS SUSPENSION MEANS OF SILENCING HER – INTERVIEW WITH BBC

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi central, says the Nigerian senate is like a “cult”, adding that senators do not express contrary views in the upper chamber for fear of retaliation.

In In Nigerian Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that she experienced sexual harassment involving the President of the Nigerian Senate, who has denied the allegations.

Akpoti-Uduaghan was speaking in an interview with the BBC.

“I am being victimised. My suspension is a means of silencing me,” she said.

“It was episode after episode, moment after moment. We were at his country home. He was taking me around his house. My husband was walking behind us. He held my hand.

“He then squeezed my hands in a very suggestive way. We women, we know what it means when a man squeezes our hands in a suggestive way.

“And he went, ‘now that you’re in the senate, I’ll make an opportunity for us to come here and have a good moment’, you know, along that line.”

Asked if Akpabio ever made any advances towards her in the chamber or the senate, she said: “There was a time when I rushed to work forgetting to wear my ring, there were about five senators there. He said, ‘Oh Natasha, you are not wearing your ring, is this an invitation to treat?’ You know, statements like this.”