Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate in Nigeria and former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has once again asked Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to withdraw allegations of sexual harassment against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Agbakoba criticized the senator for failing to clarify the obvious contradictions in her claims, especially regarding the timelines and public behavior of the events that followed.
According to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), Agbakoba’s law firm Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL), represents Akpabio.
Naija News Recalling that on April 14, Agbakoba sent a letter to the senator representing Kogi Central asking her to provide verifiable evidence in support of the Senate president’s allegation of sexual misconduct.
The allegation caused significant controversy, which ultimately led to the suspension of the Senate by Akpoti-uduaghan.
Agbakoba said at a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday that a second letter was necessary as the senator failed to resolve the differences identified in her initial claims.
He noted that rather than responding to concerns arising from the inconsistencies, especially regarding the dates of her alleged harassment and subsequent public praise for Akpabio on social media, Akpoti-uduaghan simply deleted the posts in question.
The legal lamp says: “Recall that in the first letter to you, we requested clarification of the conflict in your allegations against our client Akpabio.
“It is worth noting that the schedule and date are contradictory. You failed to clarify your sexual harassment allegations on December 8, 2023, and the promotion of Akpabio on your social media accounts (Instagram and X/Twitter), on December 9, 2023 – the day after you accused him of sexual harassing him.
“You did not clarify this contradiction, but deleted the social media post, which is very worrying for us.”
Agbakoba continued to stress that the plaintiff’s burden of proof still exists and questioned why the senator spent more than a year with her claims being made public.
“You claimed that sexual harassment occurred on December 8, 2023, but your allegations were not filed until February 28, 2025. One year and two months later?
“In addition, instead of taking serious allegations that occurred on December 8, 2023, you might as well see you in several legislative and non-legislative events (local and international) together with your so-called harasser Akpabio in 2024.
“For example, you have seen it together at the Union of Members held in Geneva on March 24 and March 25, 2024.
“All of these events are posted in warm tones on your social media platform. See the screenshot of your Facebook post and other photos you took with Akpabio. We found this contradictory and incredible.
“In view of this, and the inconsistency pointed out in the first letter we have given you has not yet been clarified, we ask you to withdraw allegations of sexual harassment against our clients because they are clearly false and unconfirmed,“Delder.
