The suspended lawmaker representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Udaughan, on Sunday issued a formal apology to Senate President Godswill Akpabio over the controversial sexual harassment allegation she had levelled against him.
However, her apology appeared to be wrapped in satire, expressed through a sharply worded letter directed at the former governor of Akwa Ibom, who is currently in Rome attending the funeral of the late Pope Francis. The letter was made available to the press in Abuja.
Natasha Akpoti-Udaughan had been suspended on 6 March following a heated disagreement with the Senate leadership regarding a new seating arrangement, which she claimed was designed to undermine her.
Tensions escalated further when she accused Akpabio on national television of punishing her for rejecting his alleged sexual advances.
During the Women in Parliament session at the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting at the United Nations in New York, Akpoti-Udaughan called for international intervention to hold the Nigerian Senate accountable for its actions. She also criticised the severe measures imposed on her, including the withdrawal of her security, salary cuts, and a six-month suspension from the National Assembly.
After a series of legal battles between the two parties, the court imposed a gag order, preventing both from speaking to the press or commenting on the matter until the legal outcome of the case.
However, on Sunday, just two days after Akpabio led a Federal Government delegation to the Vatican, the Kogi Central senator sent a sarcastic ‘Apology Letter’ to the Senate President.
The letter read:
“Dear Distinguished Senate President Godswill Akpabio,
It is with the deepest sarcasm and utmost theatrical regret that I tender this apology for the grievous crime of possessing dignity and self-respect in your most exalted presence.
I have reflected extensively on my unforgivable failure to recognise that legislative success in certain quarters is apparently not earned through merit, but through the ancient art of compliance — of the very personal kind.
How remiss of me not to understand that my refusal to indulge your… ‘requests’ was not merely a personal choice, but a constitutional violation of the unwritten laws of certain men’s entitlement. Truly, I must apologise for prioritising competence over capitulation, vision over vanity, and the people’s mandate over private dinners behind closed doors.
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I now realise the catastrophic consequences of my actions: legislation delayed, tempers flared, and the tragic bruising of egos so large they require their own postcodes. For this disruption to the natural order of ‘quid pro quo,’ I bow my head in fictional shame.
Please find it in your magnanimous heart — somewhere buried deep beneath layers of entitlement — to forgive this stubborn woman who mistakenly believed that her seat in the Senate was earned through elections, not erections.
I remain Yours in eternal resistance,
Senator Natasha H. Akpoti-Udaughan
Unafraid, Unbought, and Unbroken.”
