Renowned legal luminary and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has written a second letter to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, urging her to withdraw her sexual harassment allegations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Agbakoba, who represents Akpabio through his law firm, Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL), said the senator’s claims are riddled with contradictions and lack credible evidence.
Speaking to journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, Agbakoba explained that his latest letter became necessary after Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan failed to respond to issues raised in his earlier correspondence dated 14 April. In that first letter, she was asked to clarify certain inconsistencies in her allegations.
Rather than respond, the senator reportedly deleted a social media post that Agbakoba described as central to the timeline of her claims.
“Recall that in our first letter to you, we requested clarification of contradictions in your allegation against our client, Akpabio,” he said.
“Of note is the contradiction as to timeline and dates. You have failed to clarify your sexual harassment allegation on Dec. 8, 2023 and your exaltation of Akpabio on your social media accounts (Instagram and X/Twitter) on Dec. 9, 2023 – the day after you alleged he sexually harassed you. Rather than clarify this contradiction, you deleted the social media post, which to us is extremely concerning.”
Agbakoba further questioned why it took the senator over a year to speak publicly about the alleged harassment.
“You claim that the sexual harassment occurred on Dec. 8, 2023 but your allegation was not made until Feb. 28, 2025. One year and two months after?” he asked.
He also pointed out that throughout 2024, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was seen attending both legislative and non-legislative events with Akpabio. Events that included the Inter-Parliamentary Union session in Geneva in March 2024, where both were photographed together.
“All these events were posted in warm tones by you on your social media platforms,” Agbakoba noted. “We find this contradictory and unbelievable.”
Concluding, the senior advocate insisted that the senator must retract the allegations. “In light of this and having also failed to clarify inconsistencies pointed in our first letter to you, we demand that you retract the sexual harassment allegations against our client as they are clearly false and unsubstantiated.”
Agbakoba’s demand is coming just two days after Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan penned a biting satirical apology addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in which she mockingly “apologised” for what she described as her crime of “possessing dignity and self-respect.”
In the letter, dripping with sarcasm and political defiance, the senator from Kogi Central ridiculed what she implied were inappropriate expectations from Akpabio, which she said had nothing to do with legislative merit but with personal submission.
Below is the letter:
SATIRICAL APOLOGY LETTER
From the Desk of Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan
Dear Distinguished Senate President Godswill Akpabio,
It is with the deepest sarcasm and utmost theatrical regret that I tender this apology for the grievous crime of possessing dignity and self-respect in your most exalted presence. I have reflected extensively on my unforgivable failure to recognize that legislative success in certain quarters is apparently not earned through merit, but through the ancient art of compliance — of the very personal kind.
How remiss of me not to understand that my refusal to indulge your… “requests” was not merely a personal choice, but a constitutional violation of the unwritten laws of certain men’s entitlement. Truly, I must apologise for prioritising competence over capitulation, vision over vanity, and the people’s mandate over private dinners behind closed doors.
I now realise the catastrophic consequences of my actions: legislation delayed, tempers flared, and the tragic bruising of egos so large they require their own postcodes. For this disruption to the natural order of “quid pro quo,” I bow my head in fictional shame.
Please find it in your magnanimous heart — somewhere buried deep beneath layers of entitlement — to forgive this stubborn woman who mistakenly believed that her seat in the Senate was earned through elections, not erections.
I remain,
Yours in eternal resistance,
Senator Natasha H Akpoti Uduaghan.
Unafraid, Unbought, and Unbroken.
