As he served the dually disgraceful roles of accused and judge in considering a recommendation to suspend Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, Nigeria’s Senate President, quipped that she had brought the Senate into public opprobrium.

“What opprobrium?” many Nigerians asked immediately, even before the hammer fell on the fearless Senator representing Kogi Central.

As one livid male Senator after the other took turns to attack Senator Natasha, the thunder on their faces belied the tremor in their hearts. A tremor caused by the trouble a first-time Senator from Kogi State had caused their leader, one who is often more than happy to send “prayer requests” to their mailboxes.

For many of them, it was the audacity of Senator Natasha to speak up, go on air and lay a petition on the floor of the Senate without batting an eyelid. With only four female Senators out of 109, the red chambers is shockingly male-dominated. So, if there is any institution where the few lucky women who have broken through should be grovelling at the feet of their male counterparts and be eager to provide all manner of favours in exchange for juicy appointments and other considerations, it should be this Senate.

But there was Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan unflinching in her confrontation of institutional rot. For a woman of dazzling beauty who is married to one of Nigeria’s richer men, Senator Natasha is a shock. Her delicate beauty belies a grit that ground the machinations of former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello to dust in the Kogi Central senatorial tussle in 2023.

She has been vocal and daring in the Senate, her strong presence belying her status as a first-time senator.

Since her suspension, the Senate has been at pains to stress that it had nothing to do with the allegations she made against the Senate President and rather had everything to do with the flagrant violation of senate rules.

This argument would have held abundant water if the Senate had more than a jot of integrity and credibility left. Over the years, the National Assembly has continued to contrive to bleed credibility, accountability, transparency, and integrity at an alarming rate. This haemorrhage has left the Senate in a weakened state, where Nigerians take everything it says with a pinch of salt.

Because of this, many Nigerians do not believe the Senate when it says it suspended Senator Natasha because of its standing rules. “Which standing rules?” many Nigerians are asking. “The same standing rules that others flout occasionally with no consequences?”

In a world where patriarchy shapes the politics of polemics and punishment, it is no surprise that women get harassed and harangued for speaking up against the harassment they face. In a world where women continue to face a deluge of dangers at home and in public life, it is absolutely shocking that under the guise of opaque standing rules, the Senate would contrive to sweep weighty allegations of sexual harassment under the carpet.

Yet, sometimes, when the opportunity demands and opportunism meets convenience, the Senate effusively confesses its support for the rights of women.

Nigeria, which has dramatically struggled to make any headway since 1960, must learn what is perhaps the most valuable lesson from countries who have got their national development right. Emancipating and empowering women is key to building strong, stable and prosperous societies. To do otherwise is to court disaster.

*Willie-Nwobu can be reached at ikewilly9@gmail.com.