ACF calls for probe over Akpabio, Akpoti-Uduaghan’s face-off

• HEDA, Mamora call for caution
• Nwebonyi rebukes Saraki’s call for open probe
Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Lanre Suraj, has said it is incumbent of the National Assembly to redeem its image in the sexual harassment allegation on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Sen Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central) rather than wait for Nigerians to do that for it.

Also, former Deputy Minority Leader in the Senate, Olorunimbe Mamora, called for utmost caution and sensibility in handling the matter.

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), on its part, urged the Federal Government to immediately institute an independent investigation into the allegation to save the country’s image.

However, Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Peter Nwebonyi, strongly disagreed with former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, over his call for an open and transparent investigation into the allegations.

Mamora said: “This issue has to be handled with a lot of maturity in the interest of the highest law-making body in the country. All the parties involved must come to a roundtable with an open mind, sincerity and look at the issue objectively, not with the intention to sweep the matter under the carpet, but to unsure justice is done and protect the Senate’s image.”

The former minister under erstwhile President Muhammadu Buhari also appealed to the two senators involved to explore, to the end, the Senate internal mechanism of conflict resolution, stressing that taking the sensitive issue to the open court might open the Pandora’s Box to the detriment of the National Assembly.

On the clamour that the power of the Senate President should be pruned, Mamora said, “There may not be need for that. Whatever happens depends on the personality of the person occupying the seat.”

For Suraj, there must be a mechanism in place to let the Senate president, whosoever he is, to realise that he or she is just first among equals and not necessarily bullying or seems to be bullying fellow senators who were elected just as he/she is.

Meanwhile, there are insinuations that Akpoti-Uduaghan may have lost confidence in the internal conflict resolution mechanism body.

THE apex northern socio-cultural group, The Guardian learnt, is highly disturbed by the emerging controversy in the 10th Senate.

The National Publicity Secretary of ACF, Prof Tukur Muhammed-Baba, stated, yesterday: “The allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation have since been brought into the fray by the embattled Sen Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, which continue to make rounds in the media and many a discourse.

“Inevitably, many persons and groups have been out there in the public space with strong opinions on the matter. Even Akpoti-Uduaghan’s husband has been forced to publicly comment on the matter and all such public interventions have the potential to bring into disrepute a body empowered to make laws for Nigeria.”

ACF, therefore, joins concerned Nigerians in wishing that the saga be brought to an end soon.

“An independent, open and thorough investigation, devoid of fear, favour or interference of any kind, from any quarter should be conducted to allow the Senate to return, as it should, to the serious and solemn duty of law making for Nigeria,” it added.

The group called on the Northern Caucus in the 10th Senate to rally round Akpoti-Uduaghan, so that she gets a fair hearing and, ultimately, treated with all the respect she is entitled to in the affairs of the Red Chamber.

NWEBONYI described Saraki’s stance as a misguided attempt to draw false equivalence between Akpabio’s situation and an ethics inquiry Saraki faced during his tenure as Senate President.

According to Nwebonyi, the two cases are “worlds apart in context, substance and motivation.”

While Saraki emphasised the need to protect the integrity of the Senate by allowing due process to take its course, Nwebonyi argued that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegations should not be entertained as a matter of legislative inquiry.

Instead, he characterised them as a “politically motivated stunt” to evade disciplinary proceedings against her.

“If we take Saraki’s argument to its logical conclusion, we would be establishing a dangerous precedent, where any habitual liar can throw out an unsubstantiated allegation and expect the Senate to come to a halt while they are entertained,” Nwebonyi said.