Akpabio/Natasha feud: Refused Seat or Refused Appeal?

New Telegraph Newspaper Thursday back page of March 6, 2025 

By Ike Abonyi 

" ...We have seen the hubris. And now we're seeing the scandal"- David Gergen

The speed of news flow in Nigeria is amazing. Newshounds in Nigeria never suffer a dearth of news items as they come in torrents. Trending stories in Nigeria hardly go beyond 24 hours before they are overtaken by even more hilarious and captivating issues.

After the uproar generated by General Ibrahim Babaginda's autobiography 'A Journey in Service' with its various angles, one had thought it would trend in the public space longer, but not in Nigeria, where news items change in minutes. The IBB-generated talk dominated the space that nobody even remembered that the Afenifere Youth leader Eniola Ojajuni was crying like a baby from the kidnapper's den of youths where he spent days. Not even the escape of the kidnappers who murdered Hon. Justice Azuka from Police custody received the deserving outrage. People just went their own way proving a known fact that life is indeed for the living.

Then came Senators Godswill Akpabio and Natasha Akpoti- Uduaghan feud over the supposed seating arrangement in the red chamber. This incident, ordinarily a mundane matter, gradually grew to even out-trend another judiciary abracadabra in the Rivers crisis and the international bullying of the embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky by the sanguine US President Donald Trump.

From altercation over ordinary seating arrangement, it's now a national sex issue, thereby drawing a lot of interest because an uncommon man is involved. For Akpabio, the feud is about seats, but to Natasha, it's about sex. The dimension the issue has taken is raising a lot of questions. Was the Senate President actually victimizing Natasha for not responding positively to an advancement? Was Natasha playing sex cards mischievously to survive the impending discipline of being a recalcitrant senator who has become obstinately defiant of authority? Is the involvement of Akpabio's wife and Natasha's husband necessary in this impasse, are they helping or aggravating it?

Either way, the Senate President is embattled because the whole incident borders on leadership failure one way or the other.  The Senate President and Natasha's antecedent will also come into play in scrutinizing the matter. Already, Nigerians are revisiting their episodes, of Akpabio with the Ogoni woman then MD of NDDC Joy Nunieh, who, in 2020, made similar allegations and even claimed he had to slap Akpabio then as a Minister over similar amorous advancement. Senator Natasha, on her side, has also been notorious for sex accusations, from Reno Omokiri to ex-Governor Yahaya Bello. Notwithstanding, Senator Natasha's narrative on Akpabio seems believable, but was that the best option left for her? Some sceptics are, however, still doubting the sincerity of Senator Natasha's narration, saying that what women cannot create when dealing with men does not exist. But as a housewife and elected Senator, should she just suppress such a wrongful act, of such an utterly odious crime and allow it to die in the name of protecting a rotten institution? If the five times denial of a motion which has not been denied is true, why? Could it have been a case of sex for motion?

From whichever angle you stand to watch this intriguing drama, one thing is indisputable, the Senate President and the 10th Senate have been thoroughly marked with a dent. Either way, they go, the mess remains. Punishing Natasha for challenging the leadership in such a brazen manner without addressing her complaint will be unjust and counterproductive.

But who really cares in a unique democracy where leaders are morally valueless and where voters are not respected because their votes hardly count? Remember that this ruling party, the APC, is at home with disreputable people and things. The party has constituted, in their midst, political priests who hear confession and forgive offenders their sins, including new entrants to the party. No wonder there is an exodus into the ruling party.

In truth, Nigerians are not expecting much from the APC or the  Senate on this matter because they lack the moral standing to deal judiciously with it and the Executive and the Judiciary that should help are club members in the bawdiness. Recall that under their reign, mace, the authority of the Senate was stolen by a Senator and nothing happened. Under the watch of Senator Akpabio the red chamber has been rolling in and out of one crisis or the other.

Even the judiciary, the government arm in the system constitutionally charged with resolving issues in the polity has lost its bearing since its arithmetic brought number four to number one in the bizarre Imo state gubernatorial election in 2020 and a judiciary who made former Senate President (Ahmad Lawal) and current (Godswill Akpabio) take the senatorial tickets of their party without participating in the party primaries.

In profiling the Akpabio/Natasha imbroglio to show it has a long history, we found that Senator Natasha had received an open apology from the Senate President in the past for tacitly referring to her attitude in the Senate as that of a person in a night club. A thoroughly embarrassed Senate President's wife thinks the husband is just a misconstrued jovial man, but this 'joviality' has often led him into problems, and it appears he has not learnt any lesson. There is a limit to how one can joke with someone's wife. There is hardly any beautiful girl who came for screening in the Senate that Akpabio did not make amorous remarks about jokingly.

What is indisputable is that a scandal is a scandal, no matter from what angle you are looking at it. Sexual advances to someone's wife is a scandal and coming from a number three citizen makes it even more scandalous and disgracefully bad. All the political defence does not erase this fact. Legislators made a law that has kept some University lecturers, including top Professors, in prison for a 'sex for marks' offence, so why should sex for a motion or sex for a good seat in the chamber be left unattended to thoroughly?

But that notwithstanding Nigerians fear that because of the corrupt appetite of this regime, their willingness to conceal wrongdoing or the use of corrupt means to avoid accountability, nothing is expected to come out of this national embarrassment.

When the legislature and judiciary of a nation are integrity-challenged, it can have severe consequences for the country's governance, rule of law, and democracy and this is exactly where we are. The potential implications of such situations should worry every discerning mind.  Integrity-challenged legislators may pass laws that benefit themselves, their allies, or special interest groups, rather than serving the greater good. Legislators where integrity is scarce may engage in corrupt practices, such as bribery, embezzlement, or nepotism, thereby undermining the legitimacy of the legislative process. And as we have often witnessed with this 10th Assembly, they may be ineffective.

Ditto for a compromised Judiciary that may apply the law selectively, favouring certain individuals, groups, or interests over others. Because they will be open to corruption accepting bribes or other forms of inducement to influence their decisions, undermining the integrity of the judicial process. A compromised judiciary can erode public trust in the justice system, leading to widespread disillusionment and social unrest.

The obvious consequences of all these, where critical components of democracy like legislature and judiciary are integrity-challenged, are the undermining of the foundations of democracy, leading to a breakdown in the rule of law. It could also create a fertilized environment conducive to corruption, as individuals and groups may feel emboldened to engage in corrupt practices, as is the case with us in this country now.

The 10th National Assembly should use the Akpabio/Natasha feud as a catalyst to clean up their mess and use it to stimulate a culture of integrity among themselves and public officials and promote values of honesty, transparency, and accountability. This desire is herculean as it is tantamount to expecting a saint to emerge from a whorehouse, although with God, nothing is impossible because cleansing that starts from within is even cleaner and enduring in the end. God help us.