Femicide doesn’t exist in a silo, several incidents precipitate and normalize such violence against women. One such incident is sexual harassment, more especially how people respond to it. Currently, the six-month suspension of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, a Nigerian senator who accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment, communicates the government’s dismissal of sexual harassment claims and the danger they pose to women in general.
On March 5, 2025, Senator Akpoti Uduaghan submitted a petition noting the harassment she endured from the Senate President. One incident she described was the Senate leader squeezing her hand “suggestively” and saying “I will make an opportunity for us to come here and have a good moment.” Senate President Akpabio has denied all allegations against him.
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition was dismissed for “procedural errors”. According to Ahmed Tijani Ibn Mustapha, Akpabio’s spokesperson, as reported by The Guardian, the procedural error was that “she had authored and signed” the petition herself when she was meant to have asked another senator to sign it. The Guardian further reported, “He also said that after she had refiled the petition correctly, the senate began a four-week investigation into the claims.”
In a viral video, she can be seen speaking out at a Senate debate to reassert that she endured sexual harassment at the hand of the Senate’s president. On March 6, 2025, the ethics committee determined her behavior to be “unruly and disruptive,” which prompted them to suspend Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months without pay. Not only was she suspended, but her security detail was also rescinded.
Nigeria’s parliament is comprised of 109 members, four of whom are women. With Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension, only three women remain in parliament.
At present, instances of sexual harassment and violence are grossly underreported in Nigeria. As women watch how Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended based on “poor behavior”, when there’s a history of allowing arguably worse behavior to persist, the undertone of silencing is communicated to the public.
While Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan persists in her pursuit for justice, support for her or vitriol towards her continues. The United Women For Good Governance have thrown their support behind the decision to suspend the senator, citing that the suspension “will serve as a deterrent to Nigerians who believe blackmail is an instrument of war.” Their representative continued to note that women who attempt to blackmail men in authority to “get what they want” should consider ploys like these as “old fashion.”
On the other hand, the support for Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan has come from a group of Edo women who gathered in protest against her suspension, noting that the action against the senator was in contravention of “due process.”
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is not the first woman to allege workplace sexual harassment and she likely won’t be the last. However, the subtext of such allegations happening at the government level, only for the alleged victim to be suspended without pay or security for six months signals to the public that sexual harassment is not something to be discussed publicly.