Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele has refuted allegations made by the suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, claiming that he threatened to ruin her if Senate President Godswill Akpabio faced criticism from her supporters.
Bamidele, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District, acknowledged that he did contact Akpoti-Uduaghan by phone at the time she mentioned, but clarified that the call was made in an attempt to mediate and reconcile her with Akpabio after the controversy surrounding his “nightclub” comment in July 2024.
He addressed the matter during Thursday’s plenary when senators discussed Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension.
“I listened to distinguished Senator Natasha on Arise News and I am saying to all my distinguished colleagues that I have no regrets about what she said about me. She said I called her at exactly 13 minutes past 12, I have no regrets. Everyone of you know it is characteristic of my own leadership role to try to reconcile everybody,” he said .
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The conflict started after Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan accused the Senate President of sexual harassment, alleging he made inappropriate comments and advances toward her.
She made these accusations during an interview with Arise Television last Friday.
The senator also claimed that Mr. Bamidele contacted her late at night, warning her that she would face consequences if she continued to criticize Mr. Akpabio, particularly regarding his “nightclub” remark.
However, Mr. Bamidele clarified that his intention was to mediate between her and the Senate President.
He explained that he spoke to the Senate President and urged him to publicly apologize to Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan. Initially, Mr. Akpabio resisted, but after further persuasion, he agreed to issue an apology.
“I went to the senate president and I got there that night. I said, “sir, tomorrow in the chamber you will have to tender a public apology to distinguished Senator Natasha. I beg you in the name of God because of your office. I understand what you said, it is different from the way you’re interpreting it by saying she should not speak as if she was in the night club. And Mr President, you explained again that what you meant by night club is that it is only in the nightclub that everybody try to raise their voice above the volume of the music.’ And I said ‘Sir, I understand you but tomorrow you’ll need to explain that to her and other Nigerian women and apologise to her.” he added.
After repeatedly requesting a public apology, Senate Leader Bamidele stated that Senate President Akpabio asked him if he had also spoken to Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan about the matter.
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Bamidele explained that it was Akpabio’s advice that led him to call Akpoti-Uduaghan around midnight regarding the issue.
“And you (Akpabio) asked me a question that ‘’why is it that you’re always coming to me to talk. Have you called Senator Natasha? Everybody is dragging me on the social media, the bloggers. Have you called her?’
“I picked my phone to call Senator Natasha, placing her on speaker, DSP (Deputy Senate President) was there and two other of our colleagues. And I called. I didn’t think that 12 midnight was anytime that we wouldn’t still be awake as senators. We go to bed at 2 a.m., 3 a.m. People who are dragging us on social media should know that,” he stated.
Mr. Bamidele clarified that the primary focus of his conversation with Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan during the phone call was to convince her and specifically ask what she hoped to achieve from the criticisms of the Senate President on social media.
“When I called Distinguished Senator Natasha, the first thing I said was ‘Distinguished I am sorry, I hope I didn’t wake you up?’ She said ‘no sir I am still at work. You know I can’t be sleeping by this time.’ And I said, ‘how is my brother?(referring to her husband)? She said ‘he’s fine and right here.’ And I said,’ I only called you to ask you a question.’ She said, what? I said ‘my dear sister, what would you gain because I am reading what all these people are saying on social media. And I said ‘what would you gain if the senate president goes down? What did you stand to benefit?’
“That was just the discussion. And she was talking. She said ‘I didn’t start this fight.’ As she was talking my telephone started saying “reconnecting’, meaning that the network was failing. I cut it off and called back. As as soon as I called back, Mr President, you took over the discussion – even that you were talking to a friend’s wife who said her husband was by her side. And you said ‘princess of the Senate, why are your people dragging me? And we discussed all of these.”
Mr. Bamidele mentioned that Mr. Akpabio later joined the conversation and spoke with Mrs. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s husband, Emmanuel Uduaghan, regarding an upcoming nomination for the Public Complaints Commission.
“At the end of the discussion you spoke with the husband and reminded the husband about a pending nomination that he was supposed to make for Delta State. And I thought that was the height of it, Mr President, for nominating people who will serve in a Public Complaint Commission. Her husband is not the Governor of Delta, he’s not a senator from Delta. That was the height of respect you could have for anybody by asking her husband to submit nominee for a five-year tenure in public service, that was how we rounded off that discussion,” he said.
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Mr. Bamidele urged the State Security Service (SSS) and other intelligence agencies to investigate the call records from that day to confirm the accuracy of his statements.
“But, I listened to Distinguished Senator Natasha on Arise Television. She recalled the matter last week on Arise and simply said I called her at 13 minutes past 12, middle of the night to threaten her and said if SP goes down, you too must go down.
“I never said so, and I called on the DG DSS (SSS) and the security agencies who have unrestricted access to telecommunication network to please recall the discussion that I had with the same Senator Natasha on my phone.
“For me, if somebody says something that i know to be a blatant lie, it will be difficult for me to believe any other thing you say. That is why when she proceeded later that she was sexually harassed, ‘senate president took me round his house and he was holding my hand with my husband following and he told me do you like this sitting room, if you like it I’ll bring you back here so that we can be by ourselves’. There was no way I’ll believe all of that.”
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