The Nigerian Senate on Thursday suspended a female senator after she accused its presiding officer of sexual assault.
Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan shall be barred from her field of business and procure her allowances and security withdrawn for six months, in step with a advice by the Senate’s ethics committee.
The accusation made final week by Akpoti-Uduaghan, judicious among the right four ladies folk in a 109-seat chamber, in opposition to Senate President Godswill Akpabio changed into as soon as rejected by the ethics committee, citing procedural rule violations.
“This injustice is perchance not sustained,” the senator acknowledged on Thursday after she changed into as soon as averted from talking and escorted out of the chamber by the sergeant-at-palms.
Akpabio has denied any wrongdoing.
The proportion of women folk in parliament has dropped to an all-time low since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999, in step with the Coverage and Apt Advocacy Centre, an organization that works to reinforce democratic governance in the country.
Whereas uncommon in Nigeria’s parliament, this isn’t the main time a case inspiring sexual assault has emerged within its ranks. In 2016, Sen. Dino Melaye changed into as soon as accused of threatening to sexually assault Sen. Remi Tinubu, one of the up-to-date first lady of the country. He changed into as soon as not charged.
Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, the senate majority leader, acknowledged Akpoti-Uduaghan must use her time away from her legislative duties to “learn the foundations of the senate.”
“I asked her what she can construct if she tries to drag the senate president down,” Bamidele acknowledged during the dignity of the document on the senate floor.
Critics, luxuriate in Chioma Agwuegbo, government director of TechHerNG, an organization advocating for ladies folk’s rights, condemned the ethics committee’s handling of the case, alleging bias.
“The ethics committee to which her petition changed into as soon as referred has shown that it is not fit for motive,” Agwuegbo acknowledged.
Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the senate president, searching for out N100 billion ($64,000) in damages. She failed to retort to a quiz for comment.
