By: UGO ONUOHA
IN our country, Nigeria, they are the alpha males. I mean the male class of the ruling elite. In truth, there’s virtually no female class of the ruling elite since the advent of this country in 1914 when the northern and southern protectorates were amalgamated by the British overlords. There’s this legend that it was a woman who, today in Nigeria, will be regarded as the ultimate ‘side chick’ or a consort to the then ruler of our country that named Nigeria, Nigeria. The woman, Flora Shaw, was a British journalist, and later wife of Lord Frederick Lugard, a British colonial administrator. The story was that in 1897,Flora Shaw coined the name “Nigeria” to refer to the region surrounding the River Niger, a river that was discovered by Mungo Park irrespective of the fact that people had lived on the banks of the same river for centuries before the coming of that meddlesome foreign, no good, interloper.
Ironically, if Flora Shaw were to be alive today, she would have been in the forefront of the agitation for the respect of the rights of the embattled Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. She was a noted strong advocate for women’s rights. There are still some female folks who speak out in the promotion and defence of women’s rights. But their voices are muffled and often drowned out by the cacophony of noises from the alpha males who are the custodians of “ji na nma” or the wielders of the stick and the carrot in the Nigerian realm. Women of stature in the mold of Margaret Ekpo, Funmilayo Ransom-Kuti, Queen Amina, Gambo Sawaba, and the leaders of the protesting Aba Women in 1929 have become extinct.
The 1929 Aba Women’s Riot was led by Madame Nwanyeruwa. A fearsome and extremely courageous woman who inspired others to organise a massive revolt against British colonial administrators in the southeastern part of this country. The riot which was also known as the Women’s War was a response to the introduction of direct taxation on women and the oppressive policies of the British colonial government. Significantly, the Aba Women’s War inspired other events in other parts of Igboland, and Nigeria throughout the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Indeed, historians recorded that the riot was a significant event in the rise of African nationalism and a challenge to British colonial rule in some African countries including Nigeria. Natasha would have rest assured if we still have the Nwanyeruwas, Funmilayos, Margarets, Gambos and Aminas. In a sense Natasha is an orphan. The tragedy is that what is currently happening to senator Natasha in the cult called the senate of Nigeria, the supine and staggeringly corrupt and incompetent ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Executive branch of government in Abuja and Lokoja (Kogi state), and among some vested political actors have implications far beyond whatever fate would befall Natasha. If the mafia in politics and the various branches of our government succeed in silencing Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, then the fate of women and our female children would be impaired permanently. Women will be stigmatized. Their participation in politics and governance will be adversely impacted. That adolescent girl in the university will be compelled to sign on to the Code of Silence in the face of sexual harassment by her lecturer or supervisor. The woman who desires to make a career in corporations or Nollywood will lose the courage to name and shame male sex predators. Ultimately, this country loses.
The concerted efforts to squelch what appears to be Nigeria’s ‘Me Too’ season with the allegations of sexual harassment against the senate president, Godswill Akpabio by his colleague, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan have dire ramifications for this country. That we appear not to care is shocking, to say the least. It’s instructive and curious that Natasha’s senatorial zone that could only muster about 100,000 votes between the two leading contenders in 2023 after about one year of campaign, was able to manufacture 250,000 votes in a matter of hours to trigger Natasha’s planned recall. Curiouser still is the fact that the face of the recall campaign was that of an aide to the governor of Kogi state who is a noted political enemy of Natasha.
In the last one month all manner of kitchen sinks are being thrown at Natasha simply because she complained about a toxic work environment. She claimed that she was suffering privations in her workplace, which is the senate of the federal republic, because she refused the alleged repeated sexual advances of the senate president, Akpabio, who is also the chairman of the national assembly. In the event of the unexpected, Senator Akpabio is the third in line to the presidency. So the office he occupies is significant. Ordinarily, the Natasha matter should be simple and straightforward. The burden is on the person who accused another of wrongdoing to prove her weighty allegations. The easiest way to resolve the matter would have been to provide the platform to put the accuser on the spot and then discredit her claims, and dismiss the evidence that she claimed were in her possession.
But no. First, her petition was initially rejected because she signed it contrary to senate’s rule. Eventually, she succeeded in submitting the amended version but by that time some senators had said publicly that her petition was dead on arrival. How can a supposedly lawmaking body be so lawless, tactless, reckless, and brazen? Earlier, the chairman of the senate committee on public petitions, Neda Imaseun, was all over television stations speaking on the petition and suggesting that Natasha’s allegations lacked merit. Even as rotten as our country is, it is still difficult to find something so absurd to compare with the conduct of Senator Imaseun. Well, his behaviour should not be entirely surprising. After all, there’s information in the public domain that the man is a fugitive from the law in the United States of America (USA) where he had been disbarred from practicing law in the state of New York because of fraud. But he is symbolic of many office holders since the return to rule by civilians in 1999. The head of the executive branch is a severely damaged person. The chairman of the national assembly who is also the senate president had allegations of a multi-billion Naira fraud by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on his neck up until he was smuggled into that office. There was also a speculation that the head of the judiciary is on the no-visa list of the US. She may be the first chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) to be sworn into office twice – first when she was nominated in acting capacity and then when she was confirmed by the senate. There’s so much awkwardness in the current dispensation.
If the current Nigerian senate is not a cult headed by males who are adept at shaking people down in mafia style, the Natasha matter should not have lasted longer than two weeks. By now the matter should have been out of the national agenda, one way or the other. Both Akpabio and Natasha would have been compelled to appear before a senate ethics panel headed by an untainted senator. There is a precedent with former senate president Olusola Saraki when one of his colleagues accused him of wrongdoing. He stepped aside, appeared before the relevant committee and cleared his name. It appears in this instance that Akpabio does not see himself as a ‘first among equals’. He probably thinks himself as an executive president with full complements of constitutionally – guaranteed immunity. If that be the case, then there’s an urgent need to remind him that he is not what he probably thinks he is.
Let me conclude with the thoughts of a female professor in a WhatsApp group where I belong to, who responded to a man who sounded like a misogynist on the Natasha v Akpabio face-off. She wrote: “As much as I do not want to be involved in political matters, I am constrained to make some comments (in response, actually a rebuke of what a man posted). First,… I am shocked that you refer to Senator Natasha as an alaseju whose ‘bom bom must kiss hot water’. It is a sad reflection of how much we are willing to tolerate in our public and private (lives). Senator Natasha made some allegations, she expressed her willingness to provide evidence. The minimum requirement for any decent society and any man with the tiniest bit of integrity is to provide an enabling environment and submit himself to thorough investigation so that the truth could be established.
“Instead of doing the correct thing, they brought out the ‘smoking guns’ and went on a frontal attack. They were taking ‘àtamo and joining it to àtamo, painting the woman black and addressing everything but the substance of the matter. Many men cry(ing) more than Akpabio and they behave as if they were with him 24/7, figuratively behaving like the outsider that weeps more than the bereaved. Sir, SEXUAL HARASSMENT IS REAL AND IT DESTROYS THE LIVES OF SO MANY PEOPLE (emphasis mine). Lives and destinies are compromised/destroyed when people in power misuse their powers to request/enforce sexual gratification. I teach in a tertiary institution and I have seen it firsthand, both through NGO (non governmental organisation) and in my teaching and research. If (this case is) handled properly, (it) would have sent a strong message to sexual harassers in educational (institutions) and workplaces.
“Why is Senator Akpabio afraid of an impartial investigation? What is he running from? Why are so many people ready to castigate her instead of asking that an enabling environment be created for her to present her evidence? May I also ask that Senator Akpabio be requested to provide evidence disproving the allegations. For GOD’S (sake), he is an elected servant of the people, holding the position of the number 3 citizen in this country, he should be answerable to the citizens of Nigeria. One of the things that sadden(s) me in this whole saga is the vociferous, almost rabid defence of Sen. Akpabio from certain, sometimes disappointingly, unexpected quarters. Certainly, there are many more closet sexual harassers than we imagine”. The mistake we are making is to think that this matter is just about Natasha. No. It is not. It’s about the future of the girl-child. It’s about impunity. It’s about the Code of Silence and its enforcers. It’s about the future wellbeing of this country. Evil doers will be emboldened if they succeed in silencing and crushing Natasha.
UGO ONUOHA, Veteran journalist, was the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Champion Newspapers Limited
