When Nigeria’s third strongest politician was accused of sexual harassment on nationwide tv this 12 months, a fierce backlash ensued — in opposition to his accuser.
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, one in all 4 girls in Nigeria’s 109-seat Senate, was suspended for six months with out pay in February. She stated the suspension was punishment for talking out in opposition to Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Nigerian Senate.
Then, indignant voters in her constituency in central Nigeria started campaigning to have her eliminated.
The ordeal has highlighted what girls in Nigeria say is the sexism confronted by feminine politicians of their nation, and the dangers of talking out in a nation the place few girls maintain political energy.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest economic system, however it has the bottom illustration of ladies in Parliament on the continent. It ranks within the backside 5 globally.
By way of a written response despatched by a lawyer, Mr. Akpabio denied Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s accusations, and he declined an interview request, citing persevering with authorized proceedings.
“It’s a primary at that stage in Nigeria,” Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former Nigerian minister of training, stated of the accusation in opposition to such a high-ranking official. “However it’s a traditional abuse of energy, the place a girl is denied the proper to be heard out,” she added.
Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan, 45, who was elected in 2023, stated that Mr. Akpabio made sexual advances in December of that 12 months when she and her husband visited Mr. Akpabio’s house. Mr. Akpabio squeezed her hand and advised her, “I’ll make a chance for us to return right here and have second,” she stated.
Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan stated that Mr. Akpabio later invited her to a resort and made lewd remarks within the Senate constructing, together with, “‘You possibly can take pleasure in loads of advantages should you make me glad.’”
In an interview with The New York Occasions, Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan stated she saved rejecting the advances, however didn’t discuss them or file a authorized grievance.
“The second you communicate out on sexual harassment, you’re responsible,” she stated. All through her two senatorial campaigns in 2018 and 2022, Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan confronted repeated online harassment and accusations that she was a prostitute. Such accusations are generally leveled in opposition to girls in Nigerian politics.
“We’re made to bear it, to see it as a part of life,” she added.
Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan stated that final 12 months, she started avoiding the Senate cafeteria and different areas of the constructing the place she would possibly run into Mr. Akpabio, simply to flee his sexual advances.
In February, Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan stated that her seat had been moved to a distant nook of the Senate with out her consent, and that she was not advised why. She got here out along with her accusations in opposition to Mr. Akpabio on Nigerian tv later that month.
Days after she went public, the Senate’s ethics committee suspended Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, accusing her of unruly conduct throughout a dispute over the brand new seating association. It additionally dismissed a sexual harassment petition she filed in opposition to Mr. Akpabio, citing a rule that prohibits victims from submitting their very own complaints. (The petition should be filed by another person on the sufferer’s behalf.)
Because the suspension, Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan has acquired no public assist from her three feminine friends. Mr. Akpabio’s spouse has filed a defamation lawsuit.
“Ladies are a part of the identical patronage system as males are in Nigerian politics,” stated Ayomide Ladipo, a Nigerian analyst. “Talking out in opposition to a strong man with numerous assets and political clout makes you threat being blacklisted or victimized.”
Mr. Akpabio, 62, is a detailed ally of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president of Nigeria and chief of the governing All Progressives Congress. Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan is a member of the opposition Folks’s Democratic Occasion.
One other feminine public official, Pleasure Nunieh, accused Mr. Akpabio of sexual harassment in 2020. Nigeria’s former vice chairman, Atiku Abubakar, an opponent of Mr. Akpabio, said he had a “behavior of abusing girls.”
Hundreds of supporters rallied on Tuesday when Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan made an impromptu go to to her district in Kogi Central. However even in Kogi Central, practically half of all registered voters signed a petition final week calling for her elimination, simply in need of the 50 % threshold wanted to power her out.
No main political social gathering has ever nominated a girl as a presidential candidate in Nigeria. The share of feminine lawmakers is beneath 10 %, in accordance with Invictus Africa, a nonprofit.
Different financial powerhouses on the continent have higher illustration of ladies in politics. In Kenya, 1 / 4 of lawmakers are girls. That charge reaches 40 % in Senegal, and practically 50 % in South Africa. Rwanda has the world’s highest charge of feminine lawmakers, at 61 %.
All have applied quota programs in some capability. Nigeria has not.
“Males make you’re feeling like sitting within the Senate is a privilege,” Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan stated. “I’ve earned my seat. A hostile atmosphere to girls units our democracy again.”
Pius Adeleye contributed reporting from Eket, Nigeria.
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