Even though the messy allegation involving Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, is in the public domain, the Senate is not willing to discuss it unless there's a petition from the public or the aggrieved lawmaker.
Recall that following the controversy over seating reassignment in the Senate, which triggered Senator Natasha to raise her voice in the Red Chamber, she accused Akpabio of sexual harassment, saying the Senate President has been frustrating her move to raise a motion about Ajaokuta Steel Company because she refused to sleep with him.
However, the Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, said the Senate will not debate what is not before it, adding that the Senate doesn't deliberate on issues just because they are trending on social media.
Speaking on Arise TV's The Morning Show on Monday, March 3, 2025, Adaramodu said bringing up the matter in the Senate by the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions is like a court adjudicating a dispute that is not formally registered by the police of anyone.
"In the Senate, we don't conduct our affairs on matters picked on Facebook or in the media and rush to the chamber and start conducting our affairs on that. There must be an explicit complaint from any senator, for that matter, that there's any misdemeanour that a senator alleges that a (fellow) senator has committed against him or her. Then, the Senator will raise it, we will discuss it, and then the whole Senate will decide that this is necessary and worth it," Adaramodu said.
The senator representing Ekiti South senatorial district emphasised that Senator Natasha's harassment allegation against the Senate President will not be raised in the Senate if there's no petition from anyone.
"We do not conduct our legislative business on the pages of newspapers. It is only what is before us that we discuss," he insisted.
