Femi Falana, SAN, the human rights lawyer, says any official probe by security agencies into Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s attendance at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in New York could bring unnecessary embarrassment to Nigeria.
Falana’s warning comes amid allegations by Senate President Godswill Akpabio that the senator’s actions humiliated the government and people of Nigeria after Akpoti-Uduaghan reported her suspension to the international body.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of her seating arrangement altercation with Akpabio at the red chamber.
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for “gross misconduct” over the debacle.
Akpoti-Uduaghan spoke at the IPU meeting on March 11 about the suspension, telling the gathering that the action was designed to silence her over the sexual harassment allegations.
In a report on Sunday, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) have launched a probe into how the Kogi senator attended the IPU meeting in New York without an official nomination.
However, in a statement issued on Sunday, Falana warned that the investigation by security forces risks exposing the country to “needless embarrassment and undeserved ridicule”.
“Finally, it is public knowledge that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio had accused Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of embarrassing the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by reporting her suspension by the senate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union,” the statement reads.
“Contrary to the jaundiced views of the senate leader, it is the official probe of the circumstances of her trip by security forces that will expose Nigeria to needless embarrassment and undeserved ridicule”
“Therefore, the SSS and NIA may study the report of the investigation of our illegal travelling by the Sani Abacha military junta before embarking on the futile attempt to probe senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for having the temerity to externalise the “internal affair of the senate.
“In fact, the probe will particularly embarrass some top officials of the Bola Tinubu administration who were once accused of travelling out of Nigeria to embarrass the defunct military junta.”
