Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has cautioned security agencies against launching an official investigation into how suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, attended the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in New York.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Falana emphasized that such an inquiry could result in “needless embarrassment and undeserved ridicule” for Nigeria.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had participated in the IPU meeting on March 11, where she spoke about her suspension from the Senate, which she described as a move to suppress her voice regarding sexual harassment allegations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Responding on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Akpabio condemned the senator’s remarks, stating that her actions at the event brought disgrace to the Nigerian government and its citizens.
Reports surfaced on Sunday indicating that the Department of State Services and the National Intelligence Agency have begun investigating how Akpoti-Uduaghan traveled for the meeting without an official nomination.
Falana, however, warned that such an investigation could backfire, particularly affecting some senior figures within the Bola Tinubu administration.
His statement read in part, “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.
“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.”
