Akpoti-Uduaghan was speaking in an interview with the BBC.
The female lawmaker had accused Senate President Godswill
Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
She was suspended from the senate on March 6 for “gross misconduct” following her seating arrangement altercation with Akpabio.
“I am being victimised. My suspension is a means of
silencing me,” she said.
“It was episode after episode, moment after moment. We were
at his country home. He was taking me around his house. My husband was walking
behind us. He held my hand.
“He then squeezed my hands in a very suggestive way. We
women, we know what it means when a man squeezes our hands in a suggestive way.
“And he went, ‘now that you’re in the senate, I’ll make an
opportunity for us to come here and have a good moment’, you know, along that
line.”
Asked if Akpabio ever made any advances towards her in the
chamber or the senate, she said: “There was a time when I rushed to work
forgetting to wear my ring, there were about five senators there. He said, ‘Oh
Natasha, you are not wearing your ring, is this an invitation to treat?’ You
know, statements like this.”
Responding to the interview, Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, the
senate’s deputy chief whip, told the BBC that there was never a time Akpabio
made sexual advances towards Akpoti-Uduaghan.
He also said the senate president never made any
inappropriate comments towards the female lawmaker whether in his country home
or the senate chamber.
Nwaebonyi also rejected Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claim that the
senate is trying to silence her.
“Senator Natasha’s legislative activities show this claim is
not true,” he said.