Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has alleged that Nigerian security officials are planning to arrest her upon her return to Nigeria.
Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed the move is linked to her participation in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in New York on 11 March, where she raised concerns about her suspension from the Senate and sexual harassment allegations against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
She disclosed this to PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview on Sunday.
“I’m aware there are plans underway to have me arrested as soon as I arrive Abuja,” Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is still in the US after the IPU meeting, said.
The senator did not, however, say which of the security agencies was plotting her arrest.
On 11 March, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan attended the IPU meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where she narrated the circumstances surrounding her suspension from the Senate.
She alleged that the suspension was politically motivated to silence her for speaking out against misconduct in the legislative chamber and thereafter sought international intervention.
Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that shortly after her speech at the IPU meeting, the senate president sent three officials led by the Chargé d’affairs of the Nigerian Embassy in New York to forcibly remove her from the United Nations premises during the IPU meeting.
“The Senate President Akpabio sent three staff headed by the Chargè D’Affairs of the Nigerian embassy in New York to evacuate me from the United Nations premises right after my speech. I was rescued by parliamentarians from other countries and the security,” she alleged.
