By Martin Odiete
….South South women rebuff threat
Women supporters from Akwa-Ibom state, state of Senate President Godswill Akpabio have warn Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to stay away from their son otherwise they would seek Devine intervention against her.
You would want to recall that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had in an interview accused Senator Akpabio of sexual harassment, a claim that was immediately rebuffed by the Senate President’s wife who slammed multiple suits against her. Meanwhile, with Akpabio yet to speak for himself over the allegations, women groups have come out to take different positions supporting and opposing him.
The group of women poured out to the streets of the state capital to denounce Senator Natasha for supposedly seeking to tarnish the image of Senator Akpabio.
One of them, Mrs Grace Mathias, said women from Akwa Ibom would not tolerate any “disrespectful behaviour” from anyone against their elders.
She warned that if Akpoti-Uduaghan continued with the allegation, they would pray to God to release “spiritual cane” that would put her in order.
She said, “We, the women of Akwa Ibom and Niger Delta are saying that, this should be the first and the last time you will be addressing our son in such a disrespectful manner. We are out here today to tell you, Natasha, that our son is precious to us, in this area we respect our men, we don’t disrespect them, so we want to tell you to stop harassing our son.
“If we hear about this again, we will go down on our knees to pray against you and God Almighty will release cane and that cane will flog you. No peace for the wicked and for plotting evil against our son; evil will return to you because you want to bring bad name to our son. Your plan will not work in the life of our son.”
However, a group, South-South Women in Politics at the weekend strongly threw support for Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan with a call on the Senate leadership to address the issues raised by her holistically.
The women in a statement in Asaba, capital of Delta State, urged the Senate Ethics Committee not to recommend decisions which have been decided by special interests.
‘’The Ethics Committee should identify and diagnose the crisis and its roots. We are not expecting banal and destructive recommendations on this issue’’
Entitled ‘’Alienation of Women politicians in Nigeria, fatal misunderstanding, bullying, the rule of conduct in the Senate, abuse of power and precarious authority, the women condemned the threat of illegal actions, discrimination, victimization and other forms of segregation based purely on gender.
‘’One of the most popular and leading labels often put on responsible and successful women by the detractors is that they are rude. That label certainly does not apply in the case of the recent incident. Even if male politicians and their female lackeys in Nigeria were to shout from the rooftops in an attempt to make the label stick, the facts of the incident will not allow it’’
The statement issued by the Chairman of South-South Women in Politics, Chief Rita Okonji urged the principal officers and members of the Senate to treat themselves like brothers and sisters and not shy away from the central contention in the recent event.
‘’Don’t resist the voice of honour and reason. Don’t insult the intelligence of the Nigerian woman. Don’t make your colleagues objects of ridicule in the eyes of the world for selfish interests. Don’t be too bitter against one another, no matter the differences’’
‘’Our dignity and survival are seriously being jeopardized through conscious and deliberate actions by the male politicians in the country. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s recent action is very healthy and provides the beginning for a genuine change in male’s attitude to women in the country. We hope that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s action will accelerate the efforts to achieve strong voice and respect for women’’
Affirming their support for Akpoti-Uduaghan, they said:
‘’Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is a good woman, and an upright and virtuous patriot. We bear malice or ill will to none and our reaction is solely in support of gender understanding and human love’’
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