Human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has cautioned security agencies against investigating Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over her attendance at the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in New York, warning that such an inquiry could embarrass key officials in President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Falana’s remarks follow reports that the Department of State Services and the National Intelligence Agency have launched an investigation into how the Kogi senator attended the IPU meeting without an official nomination.
The controversy surrounding Akpoti-Uduaghan’s participation stems from her recent suspension from the Nigerian Senate, a development she reported at the international gathering. Senate President Godswill Akpabio accused her of embarrassing the government by raising the issue at the IPU. However, the senator maintained that her suspension was a retaliatory measure after she accused Akpabio of sexual harassment.
In a statement on Sunday, Falana criticised the probe, describing it as a futile endeavour that could subject Nigeria to “needless embarrassment and undeserved ridicule.”
His words: “Finally, it is public knowledge that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio had accused Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of embarrassing the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by reporting her suspension by the senate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
“Contrary to the jaundiced views of the senate leader, it is the official probe of the circumstances of her trip by security forces that will expose Nigeria to needless embarrassment and undeserved ridicule.
“Therefore, the SSS and NIA may study the report of the investigation of our illegal travelling by the Sani Abacha military junta before embarking on the futile attempt to probe Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for having the temerity to externalise the ‘internal affair’ of the Senate.
“In fact, the probe will particularly embarrass some top officials of the Bola Tinubu administration who were once accused of travelling out of Nigeria to embarrass the defunct military junta.”