Reno Omokri, ex-aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has distanced himself from the ongoing controversy between Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Omokri, in a statement on Saturday, said he had been receiving numerous interview requests from major media outlets regarding the allegations against Akpabio.
While recounting his experience with the senator, he stated that his dispute with the lawmaker began after he rejected advances from a woman who was a friend of hers.
According to him, Natasha subsequently accused him of sexually harassing her at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa during a reception for then-Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in May 2014.
Omokri, however, said he was able to counter the allegation by providing evidence that he was in the United States at the time, serving as former President Goodluck Jonathan’s special envoy.
He added that after he presented his passport and travel documents, the senator deleted her allegations and a video in which she had insulted him and his family.
Omokri said the matter was later resolved through an out-of-court settlement facilitated by a prominent clergyman and an influential figure from his ethnic nationality.
He, however, urged the media to refrain from involving him in the ongoing matter, stressing that he had no further interest in the issue.
He also called for a Senate investigation into the allegations against Akpabio to establish the truth.
The statement reads in full, “I have been inundated with calls from almost all major media outlets in Nigeria to interview me about the issues involving the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Senator Natasha Akpoti. These media organisations wanted my take, seeing that I was once accused by Senator Natasha Akpoti of the exact grave allegations that she is now accusing the Senate President of.
“Against my will, I have been trending on various social media platforms, and for the sake of my family, it would be best to put this matter to rest.
“Rather than speak with multiple media outlets, perhaps I can ease the pressure on me by putting out this statement.
“I do not know if what Senator Natasha Akpoti accused the Senate President of is true, as I was not physically present when the alleged events took place.
“However, I can testify that Senator Natasha Akpoti once had an altercation with me on social media over a post where a woman made advances at me and I rejected her and stated that my wife is a beauty queen and is more than enough for me.
“Apparently the woman is or was a friend of Senator Akpoti. And after I had scorned her friend’s advances, Senator Akpoti accused me of sexually harassing her at Aso Rock Presidential Villa, during a reception held for the visiting Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, when he visited Nigeria between May 4 and May 7 2014.
“Unfortunately for Senator Akpoti, during those dates, I was sent to the United States of America as President Jonathan’s special envoy. I met and was photographed with multiple U.S. officials, including State Department officials, in Washington, D.C.
“I then published a First Class British Airways ticket and my passport (which was a different class of passport from the regular Nigerian passport and requires a special kind of stamp), proving that I was not in Nigeria on the dates Senator Akpoti alleged I sexually harassed her.
“After I published that evidence, Miss Natasha Akpoti, as she then was, deleted every trace of her allegations against me and the video she had made insulting me, my wife and my newborn daughter.”
“As I was pondering the next steps to take, a very influential and respectable man from my ethnic nationality, reached out to a prominent Christian clergyman, who mediated between him and I. The gentleman greeted me in my mother tongue, Itsekiri, and was most gentlemanly and expressed regrets over the incident, and I was prevailed on by the clergyman to reach an out-of-court settlement.
“Thereafter, I dropped the matter since my name had been cleared, and the out-of-court settlement was adequate.
“That is the extent of my encounter with Senator Natasha Akpoti. I hope the media can now leave me alone, as I am reluctant to grant any interviews or get entangled in this matter, seeing as I have the highest respect for the man who reached out to me to settle the matter.
“As for the Senate, I have the highest respect and confidence in that institution and its leadership and believe that the right thing to do would be to institute a Senate investigation by the appropriate committee to determine the veracity of the present allegations.”
