The Chairman of the Senate Interparliamentary Committee, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, has criticized the suspended senator from Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, calling her petition to the Inter-Parliamentary Union “dead on arrival.”
Ibrahim made this statement in a release issued in Abuja on Thursday.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had escalated her conflict with Senate President Akpabio by presenting her case at a United Nations forum, the International Parliamentary Union, accusing him of political victimization.
She was suspended on March 6 after a heated argument with the Senate leadership over a new seating arrangement, which she argued was meant to marginalize her.
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The tension escalated when Akpoti-Uduaghan, during a national TV appearance, accused Akpabio of punishing her for rejecting his alleged sexual advances.
At the Women in Parliament session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting at the United Nations in New York, Akpoti-Uduaghan called for international intervention to hold the Nigerian Senate accountable.
However, Ibrahim dismissed her petition as unfounded, emphasizing that IPU membership was granted to Nigeria as a country, not to individuals like Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
He said, “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!
“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.”
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