A lawyer, Ige Asemudara, has faulted the Senate over the method it adopted in handling the sexual harassment allegation made by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.
Asemudara said Akpabio should have stepped down pending investigation.
“ It’s funny and very uncivilised that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio against who that allegation was made, that weighty allegation, presided over the Senate during that period. He should have stepped down pending when investigations are made.
“At least you see what is going on in the UK parliament now. The M.P, Rupert Lowe was alleged of bullying some female staffs of the British Parliament and what do you see? The parliament suspended him pending investigation.
“So even if our Senate President is not suspended, we expect that he steps aside and then he allows the system to run its course so that it is not seen as if he is being over-bearing on the Senate, using his ways against the lady who has complained about him”, he argued.
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While not lending credence to the allegations of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, Asemudara contended that the Senate didn’t handle the matter well.
“Senator Akpabio ought not to have presided the Ethics and Privileges Committee. This committee ought not to have thrown out that petition. Rather on their own, they should have invoked the disciplinary mechanism within the senate to on their own, investigate the allegation and bring the Senate President to book, if actually he is culpable,” he said.
Asemudara however said he was not aware of any court order restraining the Senate from suspending Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
“However, I take the view that the senate didn’t do well when it suspended the Senator. The optics are not good. The Senator had a complaint about sexual harassment, the senate didn’t look into it, that the Senate just threw the petition out on the basis that it came in a through a Senator and that they only receive petitions from constituencies.
” That, with due respect is not just incorrect but it is unreasonable and I know that the Senate had their ways of disciplining its members. It has its own internal disciplinary mechanism. If there are complaints against any senator or the leadership of the Senate,that provision should even be invoked even without a Senator writing petition. That is why the provision should be invoke against such leader,” he said.