A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Monday Ubani says Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has not stepped aside from his position while investigation into the sexual allegations leveled against was going on because the accuser, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan did not supply any evidence to back up her claim.
Ubani, who is a Special Adviser to the Senate President said he would have personally advised Akpabio to step aside while the investigation is ongoing if Natasha had presented any evidence against him.
He argued that in civilised nations like United Kingdom or United States, public officers usually step aside for proper investigation if there are evidences against them.
“My take is that in nations like United States and United Kingdom, if such an allegation is made against any public officer, they normally want to allow proper investigation to be done which is what the senate is trying to do in this circumstances. But there must be evidence. I’m also curious to look at the evidence that the person who has alleged this sexual harassment has presented”.
According Ubani, despite making two allegations against Akpabio, Natasha did not provide a single evidence to back up her claim.
“There are two things she has said, which if there are sufficient evidence, I will be one of the person that will advise Senator Godswill Akpabio to step aside”.
“The first allegation is that on 8th of December, in the home of Senator Akpabio in Uyo, she was with her husband and the senator took them to all the rooms and then said ‘do you like my house?’ I will like for you to come back here to make me happy, you know I am a presiding officer’.
“The second one is when she did not wear her wedding ring and the man saw that and said ‘is this an invitation to treat?’. According to her, those things were said in the presence of senators”.
“As I speak to you, there is no single witness that has been named . There is no single exhibit, there is no single text message. There is no single evidence in the verifying affidavit. All the allegations she made were all verbal”.
“Also, there was no witness. She didn’t tell her husband all these things until 2025 when her seat was re-allocated”.
