A United States-based activist, Dr Sandra Duru, popularly
known as Professor Mgbeke, has released purported evidence from exclusive phone
conversations in which she claimed the suspended lawmaker representing Kogi
Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, lied against the Senate President,
Senator Godswill Akpabio, regarding the controversial sexual harassment
allegation.
The activist, who made the revelation during a Facebook Live
session monitored by our correspondent on Thursday night, added that
Akpoti-Uduaghan also allegedly attempted to induce her with N200 million to
falsely accuse the former Akwa Ibom governor of organ harvesting.
While stressing that the call logs and recorded
conversations in her possession were convincing enough to prove that the
lawmaker lied about the sexual harassment allegation levelled against Akpabio,
Mgbeke described it as wicked for Akpoti-Uduaghan to attempt to link him to the
death of a young girl who died a few years ago.
In the one-hour, eight-minute live broadcast, the activist
claimed the suspended senator was out to destroy men, stating that she had no
actual evidence to support her harassment claim against Akpabio.
“So I had to redirect her back to my question, and she then
said it (sexual advances) didn’t happen. ‘I don’t have evidence.’
“I told Natasha, ‘You are a pathological liar. You have
disgraced us, Nigerians.’ She said Nigerians were G and H – ‘Gullible and
Hungry’ – and I asked, ‘You want to add to their problems?’ I told her to make
peace with the Senate members, but she insisted they wanted to destroy the
Yoruba government.
“I don’t know what she meant by that. Natasha is not
teachable. She lacks humility and doesn’t care. If it doesn’t go Natasha’s way,
you are her enemy. Natasha is on a mission to destroy men… I cannot watch her
destroy our men, our sons, and our girls who are following her blindly,” she
alleged.
Continuing, Mgbeke claimed she had submitted all their
recorded conversations and other evidence to relevant authorities in the United
States and other parts of the world for forensic analysis.
According to her, she was quick enough to save some of the
evidence before the senator deleted it.
The activist also said she had petitioned international
security agencies, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and the Nigerian Police to
probe Akpoti-Uduaghan’s alleged falsehoods and what she claimed she knew about
the murder of Iniubong Umoren.
She added, “The Nigerian Police should handle the case of
Natasha and her false allegations. She said she wants to force the Senate
President to step down so that they can remove what they call the Yoruba
government.
“Umoren died in 2021. An autopsy was done, and there was no
organ harvesting. I have already written to international agencies about a
senator who claimed to have known something about the murder of a young lady
and kept it to herself. She must explain what she knows about the death.
“She said the reason for the fight was not really about the
Senate President, but about the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
She said they don’t want the Yoruba government to go beyond four years. She
admitted there was no evidence of sexual harassment of any kind,” she insisted.
Efforts to get a reaction from the Kogi senator were
unsuccessful.
When contacted, her media aide, Israel Arogbonlo, said, “I
will revert.”
However, as of the time of filing this report, he could not
be reached again.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended on 6 March following a heated
disagreement with the Senate leadership over a new seating arrangement, which
she alleged was designed to undermine her.
Tensions escalated when she accused Senate President Akpabio
on national television of punishing her for rejecting his alleged sexual
advances.
During the Women in Parliament session at the
Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting at the United Nations in New York,
Akpoti-Uduaghan called for international intervention to hold the Nigerian
Senate accountable.
She also criticised the harsh measures imposed on her,
including the withdrawal of security, salary cuts, and a six-month suspension
from the National Assembly.
Following a series of legal proceedings between both
parties, a court barred them from speaking to the press or commenting publicly
on the issue until a legal outcome is reached.
However, last Sunday, two days after Akpabio led a Federal
Government delegation to the Vatican the Kogi Central senator wrote a derisive
“apology letter” directed at the office of the Senate President.
