The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, on Wednesday, dismissed the petition on alleged sexual harassment filed by Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP) against Senate President Godswill Akpabio as “dead on arrival.”
Chairman of the committee, Sen. Neda Imaseun (LP-Edo), made this statement during an investigative hearing on petitions related to alleged misconduct by Akpoti-Uduaghan and allegations of sexual harassment against Akpabio.
During Wednesday’s plenary, Akpoti-Uduaghan had announced her petition, read it aloud, and submitted it.
The Senate president accepted the petition and referred it to the Ethics Committee despite a heated debate and arguments that its presentation violated the Senate rules.
Imaseun at the investigative hearing after the plenary session said:
“It is the procedure of this committee, as a matter of fact, the first thing we ask when the petition comes to us is whether or not that petition is before any law court.
”And if the answer is yes, we do not touch such petitions.
“In addition to that, our Red Book also, under Order 40, has also laid down the processes that must be followed before a petition is laid.
“If you allow me, Order 40 of our rulebook, subsection 4, says that no senator may present to the Senate a petition signed by him or herself.
”In other words, I cannot submit a petition about myself, signed by myself, that petition ought to be presented by another senator.
“And I’m sure that there are three senators from Kogi, as it is with other states, and that was not done.
“That report, we will not even touch it because it’s a matter before the court.
“We do not place much emphasis on this order that was presented. We are referring back to our rulebook. As I said earlier, the petition she submitted today is ‘dead on arrival.’
“I say this because it directly contradicts Order 40, Subsection 4, which states that no senator may present a petition in the Senate that is signed by themselves.
“Since the petition was signed by her, this committee will not entertain it.”
The committee had earlier launched an investigation into the alleged disorderly conduct of Akpoti-Uduaghan during the plenary session on Feb. 20.
The Senate had referred a petition, presented by its spokesperson, Sen. Yemi Adaramodu (APC-Ekiti), to the committee on Feb. 25, mandating it to submit its report within two weeks.
The petition stemmed from the controversy surrounding a recent altercation between Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Senate leadership over seat allocation.
Present at the hearing to make presentations were the petition’s author, Sen. Adaramodu; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Sen. Titus Zam (APC-Benue); and the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, Mr Murthar Usman.
However, Akpoti-Uduaghan was absent from the investigative hearing.
Speaking further on the alleged disorderly conduct, Imaseun said:
“Ladies and gentlemen, she’s not here, now I can understand why she’s not here, she’s probably not here on the order of her lawyers, that being the case, the committee will sit and will deliberate on what we’ve gotten.
”Senators have presented their cases before us based on our rulebook and all other documents that are available to us, we shall make a decision here, and then present to the full senate,” he said. (NAN)