Senate President Akpabio Accused Of Ordering Major TV Stations To Stop Covering Senator Natasha In Plenary

Some members of the National Assembly Press Corps have confided in SaharaReporters that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, allegedly issued a directive barring television journalists from recording Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan during plenary sessions.

Multiple journalists covering the Senate told SaharaReporters under condition of anonymity that they had been threatened and warned not to show the Kogi-born lawmaker on air.

One of the sources said: “They don’t show Natasha on the screens anymore. Colleagues from NTA, AIT, Channels… all our in-house reporters claimed they were threatened by Senate leaders.“

According to the source, the alleged clampdown began shortly after Senator Natasha’s widely circulated video in which she spoke passionately about Nigerian women languishing in Libyan prisons.

“It started when she resumed this time. Especially after the video of her speaking for the Nigerian women in Libyan prisons and no senator wanted to second her prayer,” the source recounted.

Another member of the press corps confirmed to SaharaReporters that the order came directly from Akpabio’s office.

Another source added: “We also confirmed this from a Senator who revealed that the journalists were threatened by Akpabio. The Senate told all  journalists covering it not to record her again. All of them said the Senate President warned them about anything concerning her, so they’re tired of the harassment. None of them recorded it.”

This development appears to deepen the silent rift between Senate President Akpabio and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

SaharaReporters had reported that Akpoti-Uduaghan called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to take immediate steps to repatriate Nigerian women and their children currently held in Libyan prisons, describing their continued detention as a national shame and a gross violation of human rights.

Akpoti-Uduaghan had made the call during Senate plenary while moving an additional prayer to a motion sponsored by Senator Etim Bassey Aniekan (Akwa Ibom North-East) on the “Urgent Need To Protect Nigerians From Trafficking, Slavery, and Human Rights Abuses in Libya.”

The motion, which spotlighted the rising cases of Nigerians subjected to torture, sexual violence, and modern-day slavery in Libya, prompted Akpoti-Uduaghan to specifically draw attention to the plight of Nigerian women impregnated and forced to give birth inside Libyan prisons.

She had said, “On this motion, I made an additional prayer that the Nigerian Immigration and Nigerian Prison Services should liaise with the Libyan Prison Services in a bid to repatriate Nigerian female prisoners and their children who were born in the Libyan prisons.”

“The rationale behind this is the fact that many Nigerian women in the Libyan prisons were sex slaves who escaped trafficking captivity, and while in prisons, were subjected to sexual assault by the prison staff,” she said.

“A large number of these women were impregnated, birthed babies in prison, and live there with their children. These innocent children are of Nigerian descent and shouldn’t be made to suffer.”

Recall that Senator Natasha had also accused the Akpabio of sexual harassment.

Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had made the allegation during an interview with Arise Television.

The senator detailed an incident from 8 December, 2023, when she and her husband visited Mr Akpabio’s residence in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State.

During the visit, she alleged that the senate president held her hand, led her around his house, and then made inappropriate advances towards her, even in her husband’s presence. (SaharaReporters)