Natasha: Hold Senate accountable for using taxpayers’s money to fund case – Aisha Yesufu

Human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu has urged Nigerians to hold all 109 senators accountable for how legislative time and public funds are spent, especially when personal political disputes are turned into state matters.

This is as she faulted the use of taxpayers’ money to fund what she described as a personal dispute between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Yesufu made this call on Wednesday, when she appeared as a guest on ‘The Morning Brief’, a programme on Channels Television.

She said she had attended court sessions on Monday and Tuesday and saw no matter related to sexual harassment.

“I just listened to that, the issue of sexual harassment in the court. I am not aware of that. The question we should all be asking is why taxpayers’ money is being wasted on an issue that involves two senators,” she stated.

Yesufu argued that if the Senate President feels personally defamed, he should pursue a private legal case rather than drag the Senate and federal resources into the matter.

“The Senate President should not drag the Senate into dispute; if he has any issues with her, he should go ahead and do it. Why are we bringing the whole institutions and the whole state into it,” she asked.

Weighing in on related proceedings, the activist explained that a court had ruled the suspension of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan unconstitutional.

“The judiciary needs to really sit down and take back its independence to be able to say, ‘Get back into your office,’” she added.

This is coming following Senator Natasha’s return to the National Assembly after a six-month suspension and the unsealing of her office on Tuesday.

The senator arrived at her office, located at Suite 2.05 of the Senate wing, accompanied by her supporters, hours after the sergeant-at-arms unlocked the office on Tuesday.