A United Kingdom-based activist, Dr. Sandra Duru, popularly known as Professor Mgbeke, has made explosive allegations against the suspended Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, claiming the lawmaker fabricated sexual harassment allegations against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
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During a Facebook Live session Thursday night, which lasted over an hour and was monitored by PUNCH Online, Mgbeke alleged she has exclusive phone conversations, call logs, and other digital evidence proving that Akpoti-Uduaghan lied about being sexually harassed by Akpabio.
The activist also claimed that the embattled senator tried to induce her with a N200 million bribe to falsely accuse the former Akwa Ibom governor of organ harvesting.
“It’s wicked to link the Senate President to the death of a young girl without evidence,” Mgbeke said, referring to the tragic 2021 murder of Iniubong Umoren.
She further alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan is on a personal mission to destroy men, noting that the senator had admitted during their conversations that no sexual advances were made by Akpabio and that she had no proof of the allegations.
Mgbeke recounted confronting the senator directly. “I told Natasha, ‘You are a pathological liar. You have disgraced us, Nigerians.’ She responded by calling Nigerians ‘G and H’ – gullible and hungry.
I advised her to reconcile with Senate members, but she accused them of targeting the so-called Yoruba government. Natasha is not teachable. If things don’t go her way, she makes enemies.”
She claimed to have submitted all evidence, including audio recordings and deleted messages she managed to recover, to international security agencies, the Nigerian Police, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union for forensic analysis and investigation.
“The Nigerian Police must thoroughly investigate her false claims. She said she wants the Senate President to step down as part of a plan to sabotage the Yoruba-led administration,” Mgbeke added. “She must also be made to explain what she knows about Umoren’s death if she truly had prior knowledge and kept it hidden.”
Efforts to get a response from Akpoti-Uduaghan proved abortive. Her media aide, Israel Arogbonlo, initially acknowledged the inquiry but could not be reached again as of press time.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended from the Senate on March 6 following a dispute over seating arrangements, which she claimed were part of a larger scheme to silence and humiliate her.
She later went on national television, accusing Akpabio of punishing her for rejecting his alleged advances.
During a session at the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting at the United Nations in New York, she called for international intervention and accused the Nigerian Senate of using harsh tactics, including cutting her salary and withdrawing her security.
Amid ongoing legal battles between both sides, a court recently barred them from making any further public comments.
However, Akpoti-Uduaghan appeared to defy the order by releasing a sarcastic “apology letter” addressed to the Senate President just days after he returned from a Vatican delegation trip.
This development adds a dramatic twist to an already controversial saga at the heart of Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber, with far-reaching implications for gender politics, federal power dynamics, and public trust in governance.
[punch]