On Wednesday, Senate President Godswill Akpabio finally defended himself since Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan accused him of sexual harassment. This is not the first time he has been accused of such, but this instance feels different. He denied the accusation by alluding to his record of awards as a “gender-friendly” governor and pointing out his cherished personal relationships with women that put him beyond such impropriety. Good for him, but there is also enough record of his public conduct to consider a pattern of his behaviour when dealing with women.

For instance, in 2020, when former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission Joy Nunieh accused him of corruption, he went on television to talk about how many times the woman had been married. By pulling out the woman’s personal life, he wanted to set her up for ridicule in our society that associates a woman’s virtues with her marital status. Like every bus conductor who finds himself outwitted by a woman and quickly resorts to calling her “ashewo!” Akpabio, too, deflected the shame emanating from the corruption accusation.

Akpabio might have waited until his accuser submitted an official petition, but he has not been defenseless all this time. His female proxies have been doing so, some of them even stripping themselves of either their dignity or common sense just to defend him. On Saturday, some Akwa Ibom women protested the allegations against Akpabio. Typical Nigerians that they were, they did not say anything about seeking the truth; they just wanted the accusations to go away. What is there to say about those poor old women carrying placards they probably cannot read? Looking at their hungry faces, one shrugs in pity. Our politics is as tacky as other aspects of our Nigerian lives.

If those women can be dismissed as a hired crowd, how about Akpoti-Uduaghan’s female colleague in the Senate, from whom one would expect reasonable intervention? When Ireti Kingibe, one of the three remaining women in the Senate, spoke on the issue, she came across as conservative and more invested in upholding the norms of the institution than considering how it could be oppressive. First, she claimed that they (the other three female senators) have not been sexually harassed, and I wondered why she had to assume a corporate voice. Unless, of course, she is omnipresent, how could she have known that for sure? Is she privy to the battle each woman fought privately to get to the Senate? Why not just speak about your own experience?

In the same interview, Kingibe mentioned that Akpoti-Uduaghan had once told her she was supposed to discuss some official business with Akpabio, “but he said to meet him at a hotel”. So, the woman told you that in a prior conversation, and you could still boldly claim that you were unaware that she was being sexually harassed? So, what else defines sexual harassment in Kingibe’s book? How come she did not correlate Akpoti-Uduaghan’s present predicament with that hotel incident to at least understand her frustration with the Senate rules you are still asking her to obey unquestioningly? I do not blame Akpoti-Uduaghan for snubbing Kingibe afterward. I would do the same.

Then came another woman, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, who, though well-spoken, appeared just as tone-deaf. She thought the issue was Akpabio’s sense of humour, which makes him “vulnerable”. Olujimi is a polished woman who knows what vulnerability means. Her use of the word to describe someone like Akpabio makes me suspicious of her politics. In her interview, she went further to talk about the struggles of men in the Senate and how she has had to support them when they faced challenges from the domestic front. My heart goes out to the men who experience challenges because of their public service, but is the issue at hand about what the menfolk endure? That rhetorical manoeuvre is called whataboutism. For context, please recall that Olujimi was also the one who sponsored the serially rejected bill seeking gender equality. For someone who had such a grand vision while in the Senate, her present politics is rather contradictory.

The worst of all the female politicians wading into the issue is Senator Florence Ita-Giwa. She said that once a woman becomes a senator, she has “passed that stage of your life of being sexually harassed” because you somehow become gender neutral. That is a rather curious point to make. So, do the men and women also share the same restroom since their physical differences get magically erased once they are sworn in as senators? Ita-Giwa not only argued that sexual harassment cannot happen in the Senate but that even talking about it shows weakness on the part of the woman. My impression listening to her is that she has not only spent the bulk of her life bending over backward to take in a lot of ethical compromises, but she justified what she endured as female strength. Watching a younger woman who refuses to lie down and take it comes across to her as a weakness.

Then enters Mrs Akpabio herself. You know, no woman in Nigeria can be counted upon to overreach herself any more than the wife of a powerful man whose husband has been accused of sexual impropriety. You will see the woman take off her clothes in public to defend her husband, not necessarily because she believes in his virtues, but because she cannot stand to see her privileges jeopardised. Mrs Akpabio went to the extent of suing his accuser for defamation. She knows it is not a case she can win, but a typical Naija woman wants to impress her husband. Unfortunately, all she is doing here is making him look emasculated. She even described her husband as “disciplined and respectful”. The same man who made the disparaging “nightclub” comment for which even you had to reportedly urge him to apologise? That should be the very definition of irony. Speaking of “disciplined and respectful”, has Madam seen her husband’s charge sheet with the EFCC?

Akpabio is not the only one who has made disrespectful comments about Akpoti-Uduaghan; even his aide did! The only reason that one could do so publicly and confidently is because of his boss’ loose ethical standards. Akpoti-Uduaghan is human and would naturally feel the snide comments. It should not be too much to expect men in an institution like the Senate to be respectful of their female counterparts and treat them with professional courtesy. This was the same Senate where a former beauty queen appeared for appointment confirmation and some horny old goat openly leered at her. If they can do that during their official business, you want to put it past them that those ones will sexually harass?

If there is a reason Akpoti-Uduaghan’s issues resonate with many women, it is because what we are dealing with is a general problem. The truth is, Nigerian men in professional places have a woman problem. They can be insecure, and the only way they know to manage their inadequacies is by rudely putting down their female counterparts or by putting them in their supposed place. It is a cultural problem, and one must be used to being disrespected not to see it. Some women will confront such denigration by just shutting up and taking it so as not to be taken as weak. Some others will brook no such nonsense. Akpoti-Uduaghan is the latter.

Unless this is duly investigated, we do not factually know whether Akpabio is guilty or not. Still, he needs to check himself and his professional conduct. From how he talks and what the men around him say freely, there is enough to suggest his attitude towards female colleagues is pejorative.

Punch