Akpabio to Natasha: Now is time to present your sexual harassment evidence
By Adeola Atanda
The President of Nigerian Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio has clarified that the legal suit he instituted against his colleague, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was not a fresh one, stating that it offered the latter an opportunity to prove her sexual harassment claims against him in the court. His clarification contradicted Sen. Natasha’s claim that the suit, in which Akpabio is seeking N200 billion in damages, was filed recently.
“Her claim that the matter was “just filed” is therefore false, misleading, and intended to distort public understanding of the case,” Akpabio said in a statement released by his aides.
He added, “The suit was filed over three months ago. Its progress was temporarily delayed by routine administrative processes and the normal judicial procedures.
“Upon the resumption of judicial activities on the file, several attempts were made by the court’s bailiff to personally serve Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan with the originating processes.
“Each attempt failed due to her deliberate evasion of service, as deposed to under oath in the bailiff’s affidavit now before the court. Only after these repeated evasions did the court, in November this year granted the application for substituted service.”
The Senate President reiterated “that legal disputes are resolved in courtrooms, not through orchestrated narratives and staged outrage on social-media platforms.
“The online applause Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan habitually seeks cannot replace credible evidence, legal procedure, or judicial scrutiny.
“This behaviour is consistent with her pattern during her six-month Senate suspension, an entirely lawful disciplinary measure she sought to delegitimise through digital agitation, only to ultimately serve the suspension in full.
“It is time for Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan to present the ‘evidence’ she claims to possess before a court of competent jurisdiction, rather than relying on sensationalised commentary designed solely to attract sympathy and obscure the facts.
“The law is guided by proof, procedure, and due process, not sentiment, not emotion, and certainly not social-media theatrics. She is advised to properly instruct her lawyers, file her defence, and finally provide the evidence she purports to have for the baseless allegations she has peddled over this matter.”
