The chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs, Ireti Kingibe, has reacted to claims by Kogi lawmaker, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, suggesting that the other three female senators have decided to remain silent over her allegations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Kingibe also countered Natasha’s claim about the sitting reassignment in the Senate, explaining that she herself has been relocated four times.
Senator Ireti Kingibe further mentioned that another female senator, Ipalibo Harry from Rivers State, has been reassigned twice, and Senator Adebule Idiat, the former deputy governor of Lagos, has also experienced multiple relocations.
She emphasised that actions taken against female senators are rarely different from those applied to their male counterparts.
Kingibe also stressed that all senators, regardless of gender, must adhere to the rules of the institution.
She also pointed out that Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has received more privileges than any of the other four female senators currently serving in the Senate.
In a television interview, Senator Kingibe explained her choice to stay silent, asserting that “Silence is golden, especially when one of us is not following the rules.”
She further expressed that she did not wish to speak negatively about Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, hoping that the situation would resolve on its own over time.
Kingibe said: “Silence is golden, especially when one of us is not following the rules, and as women, we did not want to come out publicly to say anything negative about her, and we were hoping all of this will blow over, as a lot of things do.
“The Senate is not a place where we are supposed to fight over trivialities like seating arrangements.
“This is about the rules of the Senate. So if I can point out that other women have been moved several times on that day, I wasn’t there, but I gathered that several men were also moved.
“The truth of the matter is, yes, the Senate is not gender friendly, but it has been improving much better than when we first entered the Senate, I must say. And the truth of the matter is, when we make a fuss and draw the attention of the Senate president, he corrects it. Truly, the Senate can do better than he’s doing, but there’s hardly anything that’s been done to us that’s not done to other men.
“I want women to know we have to follow the rules of the institution we choose to enter, and that is mostly the point of this visit here.”
Source: The nation
