Group decries senator’s ‘refusal’ to sue Akpabio for sexual harassment

The country home of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan in Ihima, Okehi Local Council of Kogi State, was attacked again on Tuesday night by gunmen, marking the second assault on the property in just two months.

This is just as the Coalition for Democratic Women in Leadership frowned on the senator’s alleged refusal to go ahead in filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, to prove her case.

On the attack, a witness said the assailants stormed the residence, vandalised windows and attempted to inflict further damage before they were repelled by a local police squad, community vigilante members and youths.

One suspect, identified as Suberu Jose, a native of the area, was apprehended during the attack. Security sources the suspect, alleged to be a ritualist linked to Akpoti-Uduaghan’s political opponents, confessed to participating in three previous attacks on the senator’s residence.

A mob reportedly tried to lynch the suspect before he was rescued and taken into custody by the police. Recovered from the scene were a cutlass and charms allegedly in Jose’s possession. The remaining attackers, said to be armed with dangerous weapons, fled and were still at large at press time.

The incident followed an earlier attack on April 15, 2025, which left the property damaged but no arrests were made. Tuesday’s arrest is considered a breakthrough in the ongoing investigation into what appears to be a sustained campaign of intimidation against the senator and her family.

Convener of the coalition, Christina Eden, at a briefing in Abuja, yesterday, accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of indulging in what they termed “weaponisation of gender-based advocacy” in a desperate bid to score political goals.

The coalition noted that it was curious that rather than pursue redress through legal or institutional channels designed to protect women and prosecute offenders, Akpoti-Uduaghan allegedly sidestepped the path of truth.

It charged the Kogi senator to take a cue from those who were sexually harassed in seeking redress in court rather than dissipating energy chasing shadows.

The coalition stated: “The drama must end. The shadow-chasing must stop. If she has a case, she should make it. If not, she should let the nation focus on real issues, not recurring personal battles presented as national emergencies.

“She has not filed a single sexual harassment lawsuit. Instead, she has launched defamation suits, public battles and spiralling allegations of assassination plots involving the same Senate President and two governors. It is a pattern: escalation without substantiation. One must ask, where is the endgame? What is the real grievance? Who is truly being protected?”