By Gabriel Ewepu
ABUJA – THE Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, Monday, expressed disappointment over the Senate’s poor investigation of sexual allegations levelled against the President of the Senate, God’swill Akpabio by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
In a statement signed by the Chairman, TMG, Awual Rafsanjani, the TMG pointed out that Akpoti-Uduaghan clearly alleged that there were underlying issues that led to the reallocation of her seat on the floor of the Senate that fateful day.
Rafsanjani argued that the Senate, like every other gathering of imperfect humans is bound to have disagreements, which he added that the Nigerian Senate, and indeed the entirety of the National Assembly has not been a stranger to these disagreements, which have occasionally resulted to physical confrontations and attacks.
He also pointed out that the ensuing allegations of sexual harassment, abuse of power and a trampling on the right to perform legislative functions must be treated separately as all senators are equally elected by their respective constituents, and added that the leadership of the Senate must recognize “the huge gender imbalance in the Senate and not continue to present itself as a misogynist institution” against one of the few women in the 10th Senate.
He said: “The Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, has observed keenly the events involving the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and the President of the Senate, Senator God’swill Akpobio. While the events have been an embarrassment to the people of Nigeria, and a depiction of the leadership of the country in very bad light, the manner and speed with which it snowballed into an attempt to recall Senator Natasha is, without mincing words, an apparent display of desperation on the part of some so-called political gladiators to completely silent Senator Natasha.
“Clearly, Senator Natasha has informed Nigerians and the rest of the world that there were indeed underlying issues building up to the reallocation of seat and the altercation that ensued on the floor of the Senate chambers. For every well-meaning Nigerian, this is the point where it is no longer a case of recurring disagreement among colleagues but a need to thoroughly investigate allegations of sexual harassments, abuse of power and a trampling on her right to perform and carry out her duties as a senator.
“Unfortunately, the Senate has not given room for that thorough investigation to happen. As a matter of fact, the manner in which its leadership has approached the issue can best be described as a gang-up.
“Firstly, the Senate President failed to recuse himself and proceeded to preside over and stamped the suspension of Senator Natasha. The Chairman of the Ethics Committee described her petition as ‘dead on arrival’ with an emphasis on thrashing the petition on grounds of technicalities than guiding and allowing for due process to happen.
“A quick follow-up to the suspension of Senator Natasha saw an attempt to recall the senator. Again, Nigerians observed with perplexity, the crooked and dubious attempt at gathering signatures from her constituents to activate the recall process. Video evidence are in the media exposing how the perpetrators of the recall aimed to deceive the constituents into collating their details under the guise of empowerment programmes.”
However, the TMG commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for conducting a transparent step by step process in the exercise up to the counting of the signatures collected from Kogi Central.
“It is worth noting that the entire efforts from the onset had been a mere charade and an aberration of section 69 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). For what it was worth, the entire effort was a waste of resource of time especially for INEC.
“Recalling a lawmaker is predicated on the grounds of misrepresentation, underperformance and misconduct, not a tool for some disgruntled politicians to wield at will. In this instance, Senator Natasha’s constituents even in the face of her struggles in the senate did not express dissatisfaction with her representation or performance. Who then engineered the recall? Who sponsored it? Is this what Recall is about? A mere tool for politicians to wield against opposition?
“Again, TMG is satisfied with the conduct of INEC, its dedication and commitment to a transparent process which upholds constitutionalism and due process. This is a clear demonstration of the functionality of democracy when democratic institutions uphold the rule of law rather than becoming tools for the alignment of political interests of a few people in power.
“However, TMG is very interested in how more than 50% of total registered voters in Kogi Central quickly turned up to sign the petition for the recall of a lawmaker in a country that has historically experienced a worrisome level of voter apathy. This occurrence calls for deeper insight that can only be brought about through thorough investigation. While it is noted that INEC has terminated the process at the stage of counting signatories to the petition as the number of signatories did not meet the constitutional requirements for further verification, the seeming fraud of harvesting voters’ details from anywhere to file the petition cannot be overlooked.”
Meanwhile, the TMG boss said the privacy of Kogi Central citizens was criminally invaded according to the provision of the Data Protection Act.
“We are also deeply worried that against the provision of the Data Protection Act, personal data of citizens of Kogi Central Senatorial District has been harvested and used without their consent. This fraud must be investigated by the National Data Protection Commission to assure Nigerians that their personal data will indeed be protected as envisaged by the law.
“Further investigations to verify and authenticate the Voter Identification Number (VIN) through the BVAS must be carried out. Where investigations reveal a fraudulent process, the petitioners must be brought to justice to serve as deterrent to those who would be willing to be induced and used by politicians for this kind of charade in the future”, he said.
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