Natasha/Akpabio: “I Acted According to Senate Rules, Privileges” – Imasuen

By Simeon OSAJIE

The Senator representing Edo South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator Neda Imasuen said that he acted in good faith as Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions in the case brought before it by the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Senator Natasha Hadiza Akpoti-Uduaghan against the senate president, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

He said this while addressing Journalists in Benin City on his roles as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions

He said that information reaching him, revealed that some persons have been taken to Kogi State to galvanize for his recall from the Senate.

He said that there is no political link between the people of Edo State and that of Kogi State, therefore, such move cannot work and that those plotting such, should desist from it forthwith.

According to Imasuen, “Those seeking my recall are hungry people who were taken to Kogi State to be briefed on what to do and were paid and were working for their money.

“And there is an event that is quickly taking place now that is necessitating this press conference. I have been advised from the beginning not to say anything, and I have strictly adhered to that advice but for what is happening in Benin, it’s some things that I find very reprehensible and I don’t really understand it but for what I understand, that they have been paid as a matter of fact some of them have been taken to Kogi, to be briefed on what to do. And they were giving money for that purpose.

“So they are here to work for their money but surprisingly, I don’t see how somebody from Kogi State can be coming to Edo State and be telling our own people here to start throwing stones on their roofs.

“That is something that is strange to me. I guess it is the hunger that is in the land that some people will sell their mothers, and sell their parents, and sell whatever is before them for a piece of meal. So I can understand their plight”, Imasuen said.

Going further, Senator Imasuen added that his  role as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions, was to deal with the issue of what transpired at the floor of the Senate and not sexual harassment, noting that the senate has a standing order which should be followed to the letter and which she didn’t adhere to.

“I am the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions. I see clearly that the chairmanship was given to me a little more than two years ago. Is a standing committee. It is not an ad-hoc committee.

“This is one of the committees that the senate set up as soon as it comes to life. It’s one of the seven standing committees. It’s an important committee.

“And so I am proud and I thank the leadership of the Senate for giving Edo this position. And when I was given this position little did I know that the saga that is going on today was going to occur. But of course, if you sit on a chair to do your duties everything comes through your table. You don’t run away from it. You attend to them.

“And in all fairness, I have been very, very fair in what I have done. I must also put on record here that the issue that was before my committee was the issue of the conduct on the floor of the Senate. It has nothing absolutely to do with sexual harassment.

“Sexual harassment came after the first petition that was brought before my committee. And we have standing rules, and those standing rules must be followed and we followed that standing rules to the latter. It is not a one-man committee, it’s a committee of about 28-29 members.

“I am only the chairman, I have nothing personal against anybody. I have attended to varieties of matters in that committee since the inception, whether it is oil spillage in the Niger-Delta, whether it’s somebody that have been rusticated from the university.

“Whether it’s someone who felt or who feels that he has been denied promotion, whether it is somebody who in the military feels that he has been unjustly sent out of the military, whether it’s somebody who believes that the promotion due him has been denied him, all manners of complaints, petition come to my table”, Imasuen said.

Senator Neda Imasuen maintained emphatically that he was never biased against Senator Natasha.

According to him, “I was not biased and I’m still not biased at all regardless. On the issue of sexual harassment, the first petition that was laid by the petitioner was signed by her and that’s it against the senate standing rule.

“The petition cannot be signed by the senator involved, it must be signed by any other senator or somebody from his or her constituency,” Imasuen maintained.