Natasha Alleges Omission From Senate Committee Attendance Register, Confronts Chairman

The Senator representing Kogi Central District in the National Assembly, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has alleged that her name was omitted from the attendance register of the Senate Committee on North Central Development Commission, NCDC, chaired by Sen. Titus Zam, APC-Benue.

The committee, had earlier on Monday, held a defence session with NCDC management.

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan had reportedly arrived at the venue only to discover that the session had already concluded and attempts to meet the committee chairman by both herself and aides were rebuffed, as they were denied access to the chairman.

It was alleged that the situation escalated when Zam’s secretary reportedly seized the phone of one of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s cinematographers.

Reacting to the development, Akpoti-Uduaghan expressed concerns about what she described as repeated attempts by colleagues to undermine her legislative work.

“I will not watch you people treat me anyhow,” she said, "without providing further specifics,” adding that the incident was part of a recurring pattern of marginalisation in the upper chamber.

During the confrontation, another lawmaker intervened in Zam’s office in an attempt to calm the situation, even as a similar heated exchange also occurred between Akpoti-Uduaghan and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Steel Development, Sen. Patrick Ndubueze, during the committee’s budget defence session last week.