Former Presidential Adviser, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, has faulted Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual harassment claim, saying once women become senators, they can’t be sexually harassed.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently claimed on a live television programme that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, frustrated her moves to raise motions about Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi State because she refused to sleep with him.
However, while reacting to Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual allegation against the Senate President on Arise TV on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, Senator Ita-Giwa said women can’t claim to be sexually harassed when they are elected into the Senate.
The former lawmaker for Cross-River South Senatorial District believes it is a sign of weakness for female senators to complain about sexual harassment.
She said, “By the time you contest elections and get to Senate, you have passed that stage of your life of being sexually harassed. You go there to serve, and you are all equal in that place. And again, it shows weakness; you don’t allow it. It (sexual harassment) can not happen in the Senate.
“I am not saying the lady is lying, but when you get to the Senate, you’re there as a person. You’re not there as a woman.
“At that stage in politics, if you come out and say someone is sexually harassing you, it is a weakness.”
When asked if female lawmakers should keep quiet when their colleague sexually harasses them, Ita-Giwa insisted that it is a sign of weakness for female senators to accuse their colleagues of making passes at them.
“On this matter, I am not with Senator Akpoti. It is the worst sign of weakness on a woman’s part to come out and accuse a man of making passes at you at that level,” she said.
She maintained that female senators should see themselves as equal lawmakers to their male counterparts because winning senatorial elections is not easy.
