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What’s Natasha’s sexual harassment charges against Akpbio worth?
The story was told of a certain Nigerian billionaire and world figure. This man was a father of many children. He neither hid his escapades, nor was he ashamed of the different versions of them either whispered in private or in public domain.
To underscore how this man was into women and how he employed his immense wealth to sponsor his randy lifestyle, it was said that if he saw a beautiful woman driving a car, he would ask his driver to hit the car from behind, enough to create a dent. Naturally, the woman would stop and step down, of course fuming at the obvious recklessness.
That, of course was all the randy billionaire needed – a chance to meet the woman. After a lengthy heart-felt apology, he would ask for the woman’s address. The next day, a newly-minted version of that same car of the latest grade or even a bigger version would be delivered at the said woman’s address. The rest would be history.
Hear another version. But remember it is rumour. This same man, eventually had a problem with a bigger authority in the land and was incarcerated for a completely different reason. It had nothing to do with his lascivious lifestyle. But he found himself in detention. Of course, a man of his status would not be detained in a cell with some red-eyed, broken-teeth, swollen-faced criminals. He enjoyed the privilege of a whole house, with all the luxuries thereof, except he was prevented from seeing the sky as often as he wished.
Because of the circumstances of his case, many people visited the authorities responsible for his detention to demand for his arrest. One of the big men who did so was a prominent traditional ruler from the man’s area. He was said to have mounted so much pressure that the man he was coercing was forced to act. And what did he do? He called for a certain video tape from his aides.
When the tape arrived, the big man slotted it into the player and before the eyes of the monarch, were two images. The naked picture of his precious wife, the youngest and most beautiful among his harem. The king was said to be speechless with what he saw as the obviously starved prisoner was dealing mercilessly with the woman. Of course, the monarch could not have objected to the wife’s request to visit the man in detention, given his relationship with the family.
What is the essence of this story? Well, this billionaire business magnate and celebrated philanthropist later went into politics. In fact, it was actually in this politics that he met his trouble. But that is not the issue here. The story was that the man who had carried his escapades outside the shores of the land was confronted in the United States as a result.
Obviously, one Oyibo lady had gotten wind of his political intentions and went to work. You know the way it is over there. Of course, you heard how the hundreds of thousands of dollars Donald Trump paid one Olosho over there to keep quiet after the had a tumble between the sheets. eventually got him into trouble. So, this lady thought Africa was Oyibo land where what she had was raw cash.
It was either that she had approached the man with the information to squeeze his balls and get him slice out with some hefty amount to keep her mouth shut, or out of plain anger from obvious heartbreak of the past. The story did not cover that aspect. But it was said that the lady bided her time to strike at the appropriate opportunity.
Soon, the occasion came. The big man was holding court at a public function, when the said lady, breaking all protocols approached where he was seated with other important dignitaries and dumped a little boy she came with into his laps and shouting at the top of her voice, told the crowd that this was the son she had for the man, a product of illicit affairs. You know, hell hath no fury than a woman scorned, Shakespear, once said.
But instead of the embarrassment an average Oyibo politician would fall into at such a situation, knowing it could signal the end of his political career, the big man, was said to have grabbed the child with so much happiness after giving him the special scrutiny – they said he had a way of identifying his children by just looking at one organ – shook him and continued to hold him tightly to his chest.
Then came the bombshell. He announced the special benefit for the child as was wont of all his children, while declaring to the audience that his purpose at the gathering had been achieved if for no other reason, being offered the custody of another of his children – for children are a blessing in Africa. The Oyibo lady, totally nonplused, was said to have broken into uncontrollable tears – purpose defeated.
Quite a lengthy story? Yes! But there is a purpose. Just imagine that it was in the United Kingdom or the US that a whole female Senator or Member of Parliament, came on television to reveal that the Speaker of the Congress or Prime Minister or whatever is the equivalent of a Senate President in Nigeria did as much as “undressed her with his eyes,” not to talk about actually uttering a word suggesting any sexual desire to her person. Just imagine the scenario!
Yes! There, a woman could accuse you of undressing her with your eyes or imagining her nakedness by just the way you stared at her and the result could lead to dire consequences, depending on your ability to spring yourself out of the conundrum. But just imagine the story of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is telling about Godswill Akpabio, Nigeria’s Senate President.
You don’t need to look far. Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York is an example. His case happened in 2021. All he did was hugging women. The women claimed he hugged them without their consent. There was no proof that he harboured any impure intentions. But that was enough.
Now, since the obviously frosty relationship between the two boiled over with the confrontation on February 20 as captured in the video which had since gone viral, not a few Nigerians have wondered if there was nothing beyond just legislative matters between the two, who were elected Senators to represent their constituencies. Natasha has now answered that question in the affirmative.
Here is her story. Just in part: “Many people do not know what I’m about to say, but I’m going to speak my own truth and the Senate President is allowed to counter that. It all started on 8 of December, 2023, a day to his birthday and my birthday – we’re birthday mate. We were all in Akwa Ibom, because he had a big fanfare in the stadium. Myself, my husband and a few of his close friends, we went to Akwa Ibom.
“At first we’re in Ikot Ekpene, then we all moved to his house in Uyo, which was at about 8pm. He held my hand and said he wanted to show me his house. My husband was walking behind us – just the three of us – we were walking around from room to room. He showed me the beautiful interior – this was done by this, by that – this design here he bought this from – it was beautiful.
“Then I noticed he hastened his pace, while still holding my hand. My husband was behind, still on his phone, but he was catching up whatever he could. Then he got to this particular sitting room, then he said, do you like my house? I said, of course sir, every room is beautiful, nice interior, quality taste. He said, now that you’re a Senator, I’m going to create time for us to come spend quality moments here. You’ll enjoy it.
“At that point I just pulled away. I was like, I didn’t understand what that meant. But when I turned around, the way my husband looked at me, and looked at him, I was beginning to wonder, did he hear part of that exciting statement or not? And the Senate President too, I saw that he also had that face that did my husband hear the invitation to treat or not.
“Then, the Senate President now said, let me show you my chapel. He had a chapel in his house as well. So, when we were going to the chapel, we walked in silence and all. So that evening, before we left the Senate President’s house at about 11 – midnight to the four-point in Ikot Ekpene and my husband asked me Natasha, what did the Senate President whisper to you, what was he telling you.
“I thought, should I tell him that he was talking about bringing me here at a special time for us to have a good time or should I just kill it there or wrap it as if nothing happened, because tomorrow was a big day and I know how much my husband adores the Senate President. He loves him as a brother. My husband would do anything to support him.
“I told my husband. nothing. I don’t even remember what I created. But I just gave him some words to just mask what was said. When we laid in bed – I laid to my right and my husband wrapped his hand around me and he said, my love, I know you could tell me anything, what did the Senate President tell you? Again, I was like don’t you believe me? I said, nothing, nothing. Moreover it’s my birthday in a few minutes, let’s just be happy.
“Then, my husband told me, he doesn’t want to see me travel out of the country alone and I should not go to the Senate President’s house, because he had a guesthouse and many Senators do go there after office to get approvals and all that. So, I told okay, no problems. That was it. I thought that was going to be the end.
The female Senator also narrated how the Senate President sat on her bill over what she claimed was the massive heist going on in Ajaokuta Steel Development Company, located in her Kogi constituency, refusing to allow it see the light of the day despite her efforts on five different occasions of presenting it.
She said: “I listed that motion five times. It was the sixth time that it was listed on the order paper that was approved. Many Senators could attest to that. Each time the motion is listed, just before he takes it, he’ll say, oh, Senator Natasha, we can’t take this motion, because the mood of the Senate cannot accommodate it or he will speak on others and let it drag so that before the motion is taken, time would be well spent.
“So, he kept on doing that. I went to him in his office and I said, Senate President, you know how important this Ajaokuta Steel Company to me is. You know how important it is to my people and to Nigerians. I have noticed that you have stepped down this bill.
“As a matter of fact, a number of Senators told me, go and see him and plead with him so that he would take it. I was like, Sir, why can’t you take this motion, it’s very important? He then said, Natasha, I’m the chief presiding officer of the Senate. You can enjoy a whole lot if you take care of me and make me happy.
“At that time, I said, Sir, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear this. He said, well, the ball is in your court. I left his office and when I got home, I told my husband. I didn’t tell my husband what happened, I just told my husband, please, can you speak to the Senate President to allow my motion scale through?
“I think I also spoke to the DSP (Deputy Senate President) to the leader and a number of Senators that they should please intervene to allow me do that. I never told them what happened. My husband had to take a trip to London. Then, the Senate President travelled to London. My husband met with the Senate President in London and pleaded with him. Help my wife, take this motion on Ajaokuta, it is very important to her.
“He said it’s okay, that he did not take it because he was protecting me. Protecting me from what? Anyway, by the time my motion was finally taken, it was my Deputy Senate President, Barau that actually sat. The Senate President stood and walked out. So, it was Barau that actually took it.”
By Sunny Igboanugo
This Reuben Abati sef! What was he trying to say again this morning on Arise? After the 2023 presidential election, when Nigerians were bemoaning their fate as the courts were churning out one bizarre, funny and outlandish verdict after the other – judgements without justice in support of the obvious heist – he took it as his remit to pour cold water on the righteous indignation pervading the land.
He chose a time of general anger, moral outrage, weeping, wailing, mourning and gnashing of the teeth trailing the official endorsement of the political larceny that had just happened to people to deliver his notorious declaration – Public opinion is kilometres and kilometres away from law.
Such insensitive, if not thoughtless move, as he sought to paper over a serious injury to the essence of decency and heavy blow to public good and integrity of democratic ethos, rankled at that time as it still does today. It was akin to adding salt to injury to a grieving community.
As many asked then, what then is the essence of law if it defeats or is glaringly antithetical to public opinion? From whence did the dictum – justice must not only be done, but seen to be done derive from if public opinion is not part of the context?
I remember the treatise of Justice Obiora Nwazota, former Chief Judge of Anambra State, when he dissected the issue of public opinion in relations to the phrase – right-thinking members of the society – and how he concluded that the term did not suggest fish mongers at Ose Okwodu market must be the ones to decide. Anyone with little education or tiny matter in his brain, ought to discern between the shape of the letter ‘B’ and the footprint of a cow!
So, on Thursday, when Vice President Kashim Shettima, took to the podium to make a profound statement, in one of the rarest outings on the nation’s political scenes in recent times, to the fact that No President in Nigeria has the powers to Remove a councillor, not to talk of a governor, his audience heard him loud and clear.
Now, Shettima, has been on the political scene for much of the 25 years the current experience has lasted. Before becoming VP, he was a commissioner in Borno State, from where he rose to the seat of governor and then Senator. Is this the same man that would mount the podium to speak on such a sensitive matter at a time the State of Emergency is still a live-issue, and you say he is not referring to the same matter?
It means the VP must be a political daft – which he obviously is not – not to know, or at least suspect the interpretation the public would attach to such a comment at a time like this, given the prevailing circumstances and arguments on the matter.
Pray! How does the constitutional interpretation of Removal and or Suspension become the issue or dominate the debate when Sim Fubara, has remained out of office as governor and democratic institutions in the state out in the cold as a result of the emergency rule in Rivers State? Is that not the bottomline here instead of the fine grains of law?
What law is Abati trying to teach us, dan Allah, e jowo, biko nu? We may not all be lawyers, but as Nwazota, said, we are not all fish-mongers as well. We are capable of discerning a common issue and determining what someone says. We understand KS, very well and know that he said what he meant and meant what he said.
If anything, this is a man, whose job is currently at stake and has remained subject of intense speculations. Would it not be more apposite to interpret his outing as loud coughing to draw attention to himself and indicate that he is still very much around and perhaps warn those toying with the funny idea of seeking his leg for pepper-soup to be wise and more prudent?
I’m particularly enchanted by Abati’s immense intellectual prowess. It literally puts me in my rightful place as “uneducated” and “unlearned” – his usual terms for dismissing people like us. In fact, each time I listen to him, I seem to regret that half of my school hours were wasted fighting in the streets or plucking mangoes than being in the classroom. He is one of the major reasons I never miss watching The Morning Show on ARISE NEWS, each day, if I could help it.
But even at that we cannot be detained permanently by inability to measure up to his scholarly attainments or deceived all the time by legal masturbations in a matter that is as straightforward as the statement of the VP. You can only tell a blind man that there is no oil in the soup and not that there is no salt.
I don’t know whether his outing on Friday is intentional or inadvertent. But whatever it is, may I plead with Reuben Abati, my brother and compatriot to apply brake and add hydraulic. To him I say, this day borrowing from Fela Anikulapo Kuti – Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense! _ The Tiny Voice
By Sunny Igboanugo
Okey Akaneme, former President of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce Industries Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA), has finally gone to meet his maker.
His damning fate, encapsulates the entire sad tale of Anambra State under the supervision of Charles Chukwuma Soludo, Governor of Anambra State since March 17, 2022 till date.
The Story: On October 11, 2024 men of the Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWAMA) paid him a midday visit. That was the last time he functioned as a normal person. The rest of his days were spent in a vegetative state from one hospital to the other in Anambra and Enugu.
The ASWAMA men, having delivered their trademark blow, left his spine broken and and rendered him permanently dysfunctional until he finally gave up, ending the earthly agony.
Perhaps he could have lived longer, but the last time I heard about him, he had been abandoned at, I heard, Park Lane Hospital, Enugu. The Anambra State Government, which reluctantly intervened after a long period of public outrage, forgot, failed or outrightly refused to pay further hospital bills.
I hear also that before their intervention, Akaneme’s family had spent all they had, including selling off family properties to raise money to save his life, to no avail.
Now, everything is gone – loving husband, father and breadwinner – gone – leaving family in distress – physically – emotionally – financially!
The culprits? Nothing! Nada! Mum is the word at government quarters. The last I heard of the official side was that the “Government is investigating.” Meanwhile life goes on. More parties to celebrate the mint-₦150billion Government House!
If you’re waiting for the devils that went on that mission and delivered that lethal blow of October 11, 2024 to be rounded up, prosecuted and deservedly locked away from a decent human society, then you’re in for a long wait.
Your answer might come in a different society and probably the next generation. You might just try the International Criminal Court )ICC) at The Hague.
If you’re waiting for emotional compensation in terms of visitation to the family or official apology since the atrocity bears the imprimatur of government, directly or vicariously, then you’re talking about a different Anambra.
As I write this amid droplets of tears for Akaneme and other victims, the streets of Awka and many communities are swarming with thugs, toughies, and roughnecks wielding all manner crude weapons which they freely employ on citizens at the slightest excuse or no excuse at all, other than just animalistic pleasure – pure sports and entertainment.
The other day it was Enugwu-Ukwu and the other, Obosi, where the Men of Aka-Odo – a dangerous brand of ruffians with the modus operandi of torturing their victims with wooden pestles, deliberately aimed at the tendons, calves and knee-caps to inflict maximum pains and cause temporary or permanent paralysis – reportedly came calling and eventually left in their trails their usual imprint of destruction – weeping, wailing, mourning and gnashing of the teeth.
So, don’t wait! Expecting any form of civility, humane treatment or empathy in the instant case is like pleading for sympathy in the captivity of those blood-thirsty terrorists strutting the landscape of Nigeria. Don’t even go there.
It means you’re yet to appreciate the tenor of those in charge. It means you’re still sucked-in by the noise you hear about the totally Audio Performance. It means you’re still blind to the arrogance – the selfishness – the self-conceitedness – the loath-inspired Pull Him Down (PHC) syndrome at Agu Awka.
It means you’re on all fours with the cluelessness that suggests that the best and only way to generate revenue by the government, is to chance on common citizens trying to eke out a living in the streets of Amawbia, Nnewi and Ekwulobia and give them the Aka-odo treatment or swoop on the managers of the few surviving enterprises in Awka and Onitsha, still deeply thinking about how to pay the next salaries and give them the Akanaeme treatment.
It means you’re what they say you are – uneducated mumu, the derisive name they call you in open and in the private and think you truly deserve, for your inability to think outside the box and for following them sheepishly, unable to change your destiny by taking it in your hand.
If you’re still detained by the alluring feeling that you have a Professor who will professor well and deliver to you the Dubai-Taiwan of Africa, then the joke is on you.
In an era where these Professors, in fact, Vice Chancellors of universities – the highest job for an academic – are procured to write, collate and announce fake results and create outcomes capable of consuming their country, as is now evident in Nigeria, just because they want to join the club of SUV owners and own buildings in Abuja and other big towns, what else do we have left as dividends of academic attainments?
If you’re not yet appalled by the fact that a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is currently struggling with one complete illiterate counterpart who could not even pronounce the figures in a state budget before the House of Assembly, on how many roads he has built – a routine activity even a complete imbecile could do – then you’re part of the problem.
If you’re convinced that it doesn’t amount to monumental failure that a former CBN governor has not attracted a single local industry let alone one that mimics global concerns like Huawei, Microsoft or Tesla, which is really why he was hired in the first place, having promised to do so – take a bow of ignominy.
If you also thought as you quaffed the O Mpa in your glass, or sipped your Hero Malt that the only reward the architect who made it possible that they are readily available on your table and at your weddings and burials, is deserving of, is to be pulled down and concerned to political ruins by the ex-CBN boss, to satisfy his whims and jealousy-influenced inordinate desires, despite his own zero performance on the same score – good luck to you on the road to infamy.
If you thought that the hands that wrought this horrible fate on Okechukwu Akaneme should be strengthened and it’s your remit to help in doing so, just know that even at work in the social home in England taking care of the elderly or in the US court crusading for justice for the immigrants struggling to escape the hammer of Donald Trump or at Jankara, Ladipo in Lagos or Sabongeri in Kano or Ogbete Enugu or Eke Oka, Orie Amaesi, Nkwo-Igbo, Eke Ekwulobia – as long as you say yes – the joke is on you.
Don’t say aka m adighi ya, I furu m ebe ahu? You can’t escape it. You share in the culpability. You are liable. You are guilty. Your hand dey there. Because there will be more Akanemes!
There’s only way to not only to escape culpability in the instant case but prevent future Akanemes and other unknown victims – Punish the hands that did this evil.
Stop the wickedness at Agu Awka. End the cluelessness. Olusegun Obasanjo warned Nigerians in 2019 with Muhammadu Buhari not to reinforce failure. The result of not heeding that warning is there, obvious for the world to see today.
Isn’t the same warning apt in Anambra as we stare at each other and wonder what manner of a Professor thinks that Aka-Odo is the best model of generating revenue? Must we then reinforce failure? If yes, good luck, if no, you know what to do. I don’t need to tell you.
As Okari Obodo – that dangerous masquerade in my community, was always wont in warning parents – Onwehi onye ma onye o je awu nnwaya – translated – nobody knows whose child is next. I’ve done my part.
May the soul of Okechukwu Akaneme and the souls of other victims of Agu Awka atrocities, rest in peace. Amen _ The Tiny Voice!
By Sunny Igboanugo
Charles Aniagolu is a “wuked man” far more lethal than Rufai Oseni! Subtle but brutal! On Arise Prime Time Wednesday night he delivered a deadly one to the underbelly of the Garrulous Reno Omokri.
Obviously saving the best for the last, he waited until the end before delivering it, painlessly! What do you do for a living? What puts food on your table. It hit Reno like a thunderbolt!
Then the man who claimed to have flown in directly from California to respond to Peter Obi’s interview by Seun Okinbaloye went into a frenzy in search for answer.
Charles, the quintessential professional must have pictured the same man sitting opposite him in the street of London telling his audience including oyibo people that Tinubu was a drug baron.
He must have pictured this same man telling the whole world just yesterday how the selfsame Peter Obi was the best thing to happen to Nigerian politics.
He must wondered what sort of man this man, is, was? He didn’t ask directly, but the benign smile playing across his lips betrayed his inner thoughts and the unspoken words.
You know the answer the “Deep Thinker” and “Author of Bestseller” gave? “I’m the highest social media influencer in Africa.” He went ahead to state that with the thousands of $$$ he made monthly, he could afford to sleep everyday without doing any job and still live like an Arabian king.
Don’t tell me you didn’t know that Reno is working fully for the Tinubu government. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that he’s earning megabucks far higher than the official spokesmen of the President like Bayo Onanuga, Sunday Dare, Daniel Bwala, etc and of course the other hidden hands like the Omoyele Sowores!
If you believed that his current posturing is for free or that he has suddenly become a convert, then you need to visit the hospital for random checks on your vitals at least, because all is certainly not well.
That he could fly directly from California to Nigeria even on a chartered plane is not because he is Andre Onana of Man United or Mo Salah of Liverpool or Victor Osimhen of Galatasaray sponsored by their individual clubs with such luxuries, but because of the peculiar job he’s doing.
Some people have dubbed him Minister of Peter Obi Affairs. He’s more than that. Tinubu and his men know where their survival lies. But that is by the way.
Now, assuming, but not conceding that he is funding his lavish lifestyle by earnings from social media influencing, what does it mean? Having taken Obi as his major job is it not obvious that Obi is the source of his livelihood?
Isn’t it obvious that taking on Obi is a smart move because give or take he’s the biggest subject matter on the Nigerian scene today and Reno’s account keeps swelling because of the traffic Obi attracts to his platform?
Is it not apposite to suggest that because willy-nilly Obedients, the largest single bloc on social media in Nigeria today, will react always, especially to debunk his surfeit of lies against Obi, if anything, to protect their principal, head or tail, Reno wins?
Assuming also that his huge takes come from government payouts, is it not apt to underscore that Reno is the ultimate beneficiary? In other words is it not apter to believe that Reno earns his living from Obi and that Peter Gregory Obi is the one putting foot on his table?
Compatriots, isn’t it an irony of fate that the man you troll daily is the same that feeds you? Is it not aptest that Reno Omokri is a Smart Fella, a Smart Alec that is feeding on our group emotions if not ignorance?
What to do? Is he really doing any damage to Obi when Nigerians already know the difference between the letter “B” and the footprint of a cow?
Ignore him, let his traffic dry up, as an option? Continue to respond, sustain, increase the traffic and his bank account to fuel his lifestyle? I yield the floor! _ The Tiny Voice
2007: Grand conspiracy against Tinubu will fail in N’Delta – Akpabio
Abati on Shettima: Teacher, Don’t Teach Me Nonsense!
And Akaneme died! The other side of Soludo!
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