Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, has strongly dismissed allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Senate President Godswill Akpabio by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Senator Natasha, who represents Kogi Central, recently accused Akpabio of making inappropriate advances towards her during a visit to his residence in December 2023, where she and other lawmakers had gathered to celebrate his birthday. She claimed that the Senate President made a similar request when she approached him in his office regarding her motion on the Ajaokuta Steel Company.
Speaking on Arise TV on Friday, February 28, 2025, Senator Natasha recounted how Akpabio allegedly invited her for an intimate relationship while showing her around his home in Ikot-Ekpene. She stated that he later repeated the request when she questioned why her proposed motion was not being considered in the Senate.
However, Senator Nwaebonyi, while also appearing on Arise TV on Monday, March 3, 2025, dismissed the claims, insisting that Akpabio never acted inappropriately towards Natasha during the birthday gathering. He maintained that he was an eyewitness and that Natasha was never alone with the Senate President at any point.
“On the issue of sexual harassment as alleged by Natasha, as God would have it, I am an eyewitness,” Nwaebonyi said. “On that fateful day of December 8, 2023, I was among the Senators that attended the birthday ceremony of the Senate President. I drove in the same vehicle with Senator Natasha and her husband from the airport to the event.”
The senator explained that during the visit to Akpabio’s home, Natasha and her husband remained outside due to her discomfort with her shoes, while other senators, including himself, went inside to tour the house with Akpabio.
“I remember very well, as we were coming down from the vehicle, she was complaining about her shoes paining her, and she and her husband had to stay back while I rushed inside to join other senators to inspect the building,” Nwaebonyi stated.
He further insisted that Natasha never entered the building with the Senate President and that her claims of being alone with him during a house tour were false.
“I must tell you for free, and that’s the truth, that Senator Natasha never joined us in inspecting the building of the Senate President. She was seated at the parlour with her husband,” he said. “The Senate President took us around, took us to the chapel, and even invited Catholic senators to join him in a Holy Mass.”
Nwaebonyi emphasized that at no point did Akpabio make any inappropriate remarks or advances towards Natasha, contradicting her account of the events.
“There was never a time when the Senate President touched Senator Natasha,” he said firmly. “There was never a time the Senate President told Senator Natasha, ‘Do you like my house? We will come back to have a good time.’ That never happened, and Senator Natasha knows that very well.”
The Deputy Chief Whip went further to suggest that Senator Natasha’s allegations were politically motivated, implying that she was upset about her reassignment to a different seat and committee within the Senate.
“It is disheartening and unbelievable for a Senator of the Federal Republic to, out of mere provocation—simply because you were given a new seat and probably your committee was changed—get up to lay a false allegation against a man that is old enough to be your father,” Nwaebonyi alleged.
When asked if the Senate planned to take any action regarding the allegations, Nwaebonyi stated that no formal complaint had been filed before the Senate.
“The Senate can’t act on hearsay,” he said. “Senator Natasha has never presented any issue before us.”
Peace OdekunleMarch 3, 20252 Mins read
