Florence Ita-Giwa, a former federal lawmaker, has excoriated Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for complaining about being sexually harassed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Ita-Giwa insisted in an interview aired on ARISE TV Tuesday that it was a sign of “weakness” for a female lawmaker to cry out about sexual harassment in the Red Chamber.
According to Ita-Giwa, it is a weakness that a lawmaker of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s pedigree could complain of being sexually harassed “at that level” of her political career.
Ita-Giwa said Akpoti-Uduaghan should no longer see herself as a woman after her election victory but as a person “equal” to her male counterparts in the Senate.
“By the time you contest the elections and get to the Senate, you have passed that stage of your life of being sexually harassed. So, you are all equal in that Senate,” the former legislator said on Tuesday.
On Friday, the senator representing Kogi Central, Akpoti-Uduaghan, accused Mr Akpabio of sexual harassment.
Although Ita-Giwa said she had a lot of respect for Akpoti-Uduaghan, she was disappointed by her public outburst of sexual harassment claims against Mr Akpabio.
“On this matter, I’m not with Senator Akpoti,” Ita-Giwa said on ARISE TV. “Number one, it is the worst sign of weakness on a woman’s part for you to come out and accuse a man of making passes at you at that level.”
The Cross River politician explained that Akpoti should have built enough confidence to make herself “unapproachable” for sexual advances to her colleagues at the Senate.
“You build so much confidence and make yourself unapproachable in the midst of men,” Ita-Giwa explained.
Last July, Mr Akpabio scolded Akpoti-Uduaghan for addressing the Senate when she was not called to speak, saying the Senate is not a “nightclub.”
When Ita-Giwa was asked how she could have approached the matter differently, the ex-lawmaker said if she noticed that her seat was reassigned and was not allowed to speak during plenary, she would call a press conference to air her grievances rather than resort to a shouting match.
Meanwhile, the Red Chamber says it cannot probe the sexual harassment allegation against Mr Akpabio without a formal petition.
