The Senate has as soon as once more dismissed a petition alleging sexual harassment in opposition to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, a transfer that has sparked allegations of bias and lack of truthful listening to from the petitioner.
Mr. Zuberu Yakubu, who filed the petition on behalf of suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, appeared earlier than the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions on Tuesday, accompanied by his counsel, Dr. Abiola Akiyode, and former Minister of Schooling, Oby Ezekwesili.
Nonetheless, the session rapidly turned contentious as Yakubu accused the committee of pre-judging the matter and refusing to grant a good listening to.
Yakubu refused to talk on the allegations until Senator Natasha, his principal witness, was allowed to be current on the Nationwide Meeting.
He additional accused the committee’s chairman, Senator Neda Imasuen, of bias, citing his earlier public assertion that the petition was “useless on arrival.”
“If the chairman has already declared the petition useless earlier than even listening to it, how can we anticipate equity?” Yakubu questioned.
“One of many committee members even went on nationwide tv to assert he was a principal witness for the Senate President. How then can we belief this course of?”
After heated exchanges, the committee dismissed the petition on the grounds that the matter was already earlier than a court docket of regulation.
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Yakubu, nonetheless, challenged the Senate’s dealing with of the case, stating, “In the event that they knew the matter was in court docket, why did they invite me within the first place? This solely confirms their bias and lack of respect for due course of.”
His counsel, Dr. Akiyode, echoed related issues, questioning the inconsistency within the Senate’s strategy.
“If the committee had already dismissed Natasha’s preliminary petition as ‘useless on arrival,’ why did they entertain this one, solely to throw it out once more? It clearly reveals an absence of consistency and due course of,” she stated.
Former Minister Ezekwesili additionally condemned the Senate’s actions, describing them as “a gross degradation of the structure and the legal guidelines of the land.” She warned that the Senate’s continued prioritization of its inside guidelines over Nigeria’s constitutional provisions was a harmful precedent.
“The suspension of Senator Natasha was an instance of this, and now, with this petition, they’ve finished it once more,” Ezekwesili stated. “The Senate can’t maintain utilizing its inside guidelines as a protect in opposition to accountability.”
She known as for an unbiased committee to deal with the matter, insisting that the present Ethics Committee was compromised.
The dismissal of the petition marks one other chapter within the ongoing controversy surrounding Senator Natasha’s suspension and her allegations in opposition to the Senate President, with critics warning that the Senate’s actions undermine public confidence in legislative oversight and due course of.