By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ekaette Unoma Akpabio, wife of Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has dismissed allegations of sexual harassment against her husband, calling them “baseless fantasies.”
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, a Senator representing Kogi Central, accused the Senate President on Friday of making sexual advances towards her, claiming it was the reason behind their recent altercation on the Senate floor.
Further rejecting the allegation as “unfortunate and demeaning,” Akpabio’s wife stated that her husband had always been surrounded by women throughout his political career but had never faced any accusations of misconduct.
“The accusation—I would rather call it unfortunate—is very demeaning because that is a family we knew her husband before he married her. They were very good friends or are still very good friends, so I really don’t understand where this is coming from,” she said in a televised interview on Friday.
Defending her husband’s integrity, she described him as a strong advocate for women’s inclusion in governance, warning against false allegations and vowing to take legal action over the matter.
Akpoti-Uduaghan accused Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, of denying her certain privileges as a Senator because she had rejected his alleged advances.
She also claimed that Akpabio blocked her motions from being heard in the Senate as retaliation.
The strained relationship between the two lawmakers became public knowledge following an altercation last week over a seating arrangement that moved Akpoti-Uduaghan from her previous position to a new location in the Senate chamber, which she claims relegates her to a “backbencher” role.
