TONY OKOROJI
Nigerians are hungry and angry. Many are going through depression because of the economic, security and social situation in the country. In our anger, we have developed a certain level of hatred for the people we believe are responsible for our hunger and insecurity.
Like in many other countries, the political leadership is blamed for any bad economic and social situation in the country, especially when the prevailing view is that the leadership does not feel the people’s misery.
There are many in Nigeria today who will do anything to get a ring side seat in any fight among Nigeria’s leaders. They want to see blood. To them, the rich must also cry.
The Senate President is of course the No 3 man in Nigeria’s leadership and every senator is considered to be part of the oppressive class. That is why the fight between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, which for lack of a better term, I will call “Natashagate”, is registering so much viewership, discussions and polarization.
In the frenzy, there has been so much terrible reporting of the fight. The social media is awash with many skewed reports and commentaries by people you expect would know better. The reports and commentaries have mixed up two very different things: Senator Natasha’s unruly behavior in the Nigerian Senate and her accusation of sexual harassment against the Senate President.
Was Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, suspended by the Nigerian Senate because of her allegations of sexual harassment against the Senate President? Most certainly, no!
Why did she not get the support of even one Senator, including all the women and members of PDP, her party? Simple: her behavior is unacceptable.
Every institution has its rules… every game sure has its laws. If you must play in the game, you must obey the rules. I understand that Senator Natasha is a lawyer. When a judge walks into a court room, everybody stands up, whether you like the judge or not, whether the judge is your junior, your friend, town’s man, your sister or your enemy.
When the referee shows a red card to a player in a football game, the player must walk, whether the player thinks the referee has been fair or on unfair.
There are rules in every church, mosque, school, company, society, club, profession and even in the family. Oh! there are rules for driving a car. Without rules, what we have left, is anarchy.
With all due respect, Senator Natasha has not shown that she has the maturity to be a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. When the Senate President comes into the Senate, and every other senator is standing, she refuses to stand. Does she know that it does not matter what personal disagreements she might have with Godswill Akpabio? The respect in standing is to the office of the Senate President of the Federal Republic and not to Godswill Akpabio as a person. If other senators behave like her, there will be anarchy.
I have heard complaints that the six-month suspension given to her denies her constituents of representation. I understand the sentiments but the lesson is that every constituency must elect persons with the maturity to properly represent them. If they do not, they might lose representation entirely.
The other matter is the allegation of sexual harassment against the Senate President. I wonder why that became a public issue only after she had rejected a seat in the senate allocated to her. Pray, which senator, in her opinion, should occupy the seat she does not want, and why? Since the purported harassment did not happen in the Senate, I believe that this is a matter that should be sorted out outside the Senate so that the senators can concentrate on solving the serious problems facing Nigerians.
I have five very beautiful daughters and would be aghast if any man ever tries to sexually harass any of them. I am also in a position where I work with several women. I worry that it does not become a trend that if a man tries to discipline any female under him, she will play the sexual harassment card. In other words, she will natasha the man!
Please, I do not know what the truth is. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have known Senator Godswill Akpabio for some time. His late brother, Essien Akpabio was my friend and colleague. His other brother, Isong Akpabio, is my friend. I know that Godwill Akpabio can be a very jovial and playful person and will go out of his way for his friends, but that hides the steel, discipline and determination in him.
Real students of history and politics know how the term, sexual harassment, became famous.
In 1991, an African American US lawyer, Anita Hill, testified in the US Senate that then Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas, a conservative black man, had sexually harassed her when he was Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission where she worked as an adviser to him.
Anita Hill’s testimony gripped the whole of America, and television stations covered the testimony, gavel to gavel. It was unlike anything heard before at a Supreme Court nominee hearing. Very descriptive sexual terms were used. A committee of 14 white men, chaired by then Sen. Joe Biden, grilled her in a hearing watched by millions of Americans.
At the end of the day, Clarence Thomas was confirmed a judge of the Supreme Court where he serves till date and Anita Hill went home to a new life, condemned by many with many death threats. There were many who felt that Ms. Hill was a weapon fashioned to shoot down a rising black man who had betrayed the path of the Democrats by joining the conservative movement.
I have a feeling that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan miscalculated. She wanted to trend, and underestimated Godswill Akpabio. She is trending alright. She may have become the darling of the angry and uninformed, but I don’t think that she expected to go home, a suspended senator.
As she goes on her forced vacation, the question she must ask herself is: “if I am so right, why did I not get even one senator to support me?”
See you next week.
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