Why IPU can’t help Natasha – Chair, Senate Interparliamentary Committee

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has explained why the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) cannot help Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over her suspension from the Senate for six months

Jimoh Ibrahim who is the Chairman of the Interparliamentary Committee in the Nigerian Senate said the petition filed by Senator Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan would eventually be dismissed.

The Ondo South Senatorial District also said Akpoti-Uduaghan’s attendance at the IPU meeting held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday, was unauthorised and, therefore, illegal.

Ibrahim, in a statement on Friday added that the IPU cannot treat Natasha’s petition becuase only countries, not individual lawmakers, hold membership in the IPU.

According to him, this means that only a member-state can lodge complaint against another at the IPU.

“A petition can only be lodged against another member state by a member state. This implies that the IPU cannot consider petitions from individuals who are not members. The suspended Senator Natasha is not a member of the IPU, but Nigeria is,” he said.

“Additionally, the suspended Senator cannot represent the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “I served as the interim president of the IPU in Geneva in 2023, and I am familiar with how the IPU operates after presiding over its proceedings.

“Furthermore, as Chairman of the Interparliamentary Committee in the Nigerian Senate, I did not approve or authorise the suspended Senator Natasha to attend the IPU on behalf of Nigeria to the Senate President,” the senator said.

Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is serving a six-month suspension, had told the IPU last Tuesday that she was suspended by the Nigerian Senate for six months because she accused Senate President, Goodwill Akpabio of sexual harassment and abuse of power.

However, IPU,s President, Mr Tulia Ackson, assured that the agency would only take necessary steps after hearing both sides.
Ackson , in a statement, acknowledged Akpoti-Uduaghan’s concerns ,but stressed the need for procedural fairness by hearing Akpabio’s side as well.

Commenting on the controversies, the Chairman of Senate Committee on Appropriations, Sen Solomon Adeola(APC, Ogun West), had also in a statement on Thursday urged the (IPU) not succumb to what he called blackmail against the Nigerian Senate.

Reacting in a statement on Thursday, Adeola said that Akpoti-Uduaghan should not see herself as bigger than the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The 10th Senate is gender-friendly through many of its passed bills and motions , female lawmakers in the Senate are not suppressed, silenced or oppressed as all honour and courtesies due any senators are accorded to them within and outside the Red Chamber.

“I want to call on the International Parliamentary Union, IPU, not to be forced into doing anything that will diminish the status of the parliament as the bastion of democracy.

“IPU should not succumb to being used as an instrument of blackmail against a national institution of parliament.” he said.

The third-term senator explained that the the Senate did the right thing in Akpoti- Uduaghan ‘s case, insisting she was suspended for flagrant violation of the Senate’s Standing Orders and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He accused Akpoti- Uduaghan of not exhausting the internal mechanisms available to her for any grievance before approaching the IPU.

According to him, with the suit against the Presiding Officer of the Senate and the Senate, the Senate will take further action on the matter only after the suit she filed has been decided in court.

“The Senate, as an institution, derives it power from the Constitution to make rules for its orderly conduct.

“And the Legislative House( Powers and Privilege) Act 2018 grants the Senate the right to conduct its affairs as an arm of government free from judicial encumbrances.

“The outcome of its decisions can be challenged but the Senate cannot be stopped from functioning as an arm of government,” Adeola said.

He said that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation of sexual harassment against Akpabio allegedly occurred over a year ago.

Adeola said that such allegations, without concrete evidence against the Principal of the Senate and the Chairman of National Assembly amounted to an attack on the institution of Nigeria’s parliament.

The senator commended Mrs Khafilat Ogbara, the House of Representatives Committee Chairperson on Women Affairs and official Nigeria representative at IPU, for her stance on the matter.

Adeola said that Ogbara saw the issue from the right perspective by backing the suspension , adding that happy that the” IPU President did not swallow the allegations of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan hook, line and sinker.”

“The institution of Senate is bigger than all the present members and will outlive all of the members in due course,” he added.