Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was suspended, said that there were intentions to arrest her when she returned from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) gathering in New York, but the Nigerian Senate rejected her assertions.
In a statement issued on Monday, Senate spokeswoman Adeyemi Adaramodu made it clear that the legislative body and Senate President Godswill Akpabio were not involved in the claims.
Adaramodu said, “She’s searching in a haystack for her lost content creation needle,” denying Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims.
“The Nigerian Senate and the Senate President no longer have any justification for arguing with her.”
In the past, Akpoti-Uduaghan had asserted that Senate President Akpabio had sent personnel to remove her from the UN building in New York and that she would be arrested when she got to Abuja.
Despite her Senate suspension, she insisted that her attendance at the IPU event was lawful.
Adaramodu responded by denying her charges, implying that she was being held accountable for her own statements made during the IPU meeting.
He said, “She should spare the Senate, which is not prepared to be her accomplice in such a sordid voyage, if she is haunted by her unguarded vituperations against Nigeria at the IPU in distant New York.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan clarified in an interview with Premium Times on Sunday that she had signed up for the IPU event online.
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She reaffirmed her assertion that an arrest was being prepared for her return when questioned about the controversy surrounding her participation without official authorization.
“I know that as soon as I get to Abuja, there are preparations to have me arrested. Immediately following my address, Senate President Akpabio dispatched three staff members, led by the Chargé D’Affaires of the Nigerian embassy in New York, to remove me from the UN grounds.
“The security and parliamentarians from other nations saved me,” she said.
The Senate maintains that it has no reason to investigate the issue further in spite of these assertions.
