Natasha And How Not To Be A Senator

By Oyiza Ibrahim

It was a day that would go down in history: Thursday, 20th February 2025. Senator Natasha Hadiza Akpoti, a supposed barrister, social entrepreneur, and politician, was about to show the world what she was made of. But it wouldn’t be her impressive credentials or accomplishments that would make headlines. Instead, it would be her shocking behaviour.

As the Senate sat, Natasha was asked to change her seat, a simple request that would spark a firestorm. But Natasha was not one to back down. She boiled, fumed, raged, and erupted, unleashing a torrent of insults and vindictive anger. It was a sight to behold and one that would leave many in stunned silence.

As the drama unfolded, it became clear that Natasha believed the seat was hers by right, hers by predestination. No one, not even the Senate President, had the authority to tell her where to sit. It was a breathtaking display of entitlement that would raise questions about her suitability for the esteemed office she held.

And yet, despite the chaos she had unleashed, Natasha remained defiant, her anger and resentment simmering just below the surface. It was a moment that would be etched in the memories of those who witnessed it, a moment that would define Natasha’s tenure as a senator.

What a petty audacity! I believe that the primitive culture of Africans standing up from their seat for a senior was never inculcated into her by her parents, and this is a shameful consequence, an unfortunately belligerent behaviour. Senator Natasha Hadiza Akpoti’s action was disappointing and not representative of the ideals of Nigerian women. The behaviour portrays an untrained, spoiled, undisciplined and uncultured woman highly underserving of an infant not to talk of a SENATOR.

She has brought, disdain, shame and opprobrium on every one of us as women and ridiculed us before every reasonable thinking person. True she deserves to be sanctioned. Her actions on the floor of the Senate betray the performance of many outstanding women in positions of authority. She has betrayed the agitation of women to have more women in power. She harassed the Senate President which was uncalled for.

In African females who learn good behaviours from their mothers, it is most probable that her Ukrainian mother, Ludmila Kravchenk, from Rakitna in the region of Chenivtsi, did not teach her proper behaviour. She lacks home training. If not that, how else can you explain what she did? From where did all that excessive, unrestrained pent-up anger come, like a smattering volcano, it had no restraint and like the venomous viper, it refused to listen to even the best of all charmers.

We are a cultured people, and even more so those of us who are women. We are thought to speak to our husbands with respect and decorum, with bent heads no matter the level of provocation. We cannot, even dare raise our voices at a man, even if he is our junior, as long as he is a man, with the thinnest of that rope between his legs. We must respect him, honour him, adore him and remain submissive to him.

Even our religion teaches us so to behave. Without a husband, a woman cannot see eternal life, and so we have thought also that a woman must be submissive to her husband in everything. But if a woman cannot be submissive to another man who is her superior, then woe befalls her husband.

Natasha has failed as a daughter, she also failed as a woman and a wife. And troubling so, have failed as a Senator, because she has violated the Senate Rule, and even pour salt on the injury by insulting the Senate President. The office of the Senate President is far more than Godswill Akpabio, therefore she has failed Nigeria and Nigerians and the entire women folk.

Our sexes do not qualify us to break laws. She owns the Senate and Nigerian women an open apology and that quickly. She ought to know better as a lawyer, although she is a neophyte in the practice and also may not have imbibed the thorough discipline that that career coffers on initiates.

Respect and validation are what we stand for as women. No man can stand by a disrespectful woman no matter how beautiful she is. Your beauty is a waste when your character is ugly. Was she trying to tell the world that she is above the law and that rules do not apply to her? Rules are meant to be obeyed. She cannot be above the law by flouting laid down rules of the Senate, and worst still demonstrate such rude and unethical behaviour blatantly.

The Rules on Sitting Arrangements are not peculiar to her. It is trite that in every parliament, there is always a sitting arrangement which members are expected to comply with. Is she not supposed to be a lawmaker, and was she not part of that law, or is she a lawbreaker and riotous person lacking in every morals and disciplinary control? Could it be that she is simply ignorant and not even conversant with the Rules of the Senate, always avoiding plenaries and now caught in a sudden web of disillusionment?

Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan was raising her voice even after she was ruled out of order by the Senate President, she indeed crossed the Red Line whatever was her grievances. Her extremely adamant and contemptuous nature, talking back to the Senate President as if he is her contemporary, and her total disregard for his status as first amongst equals, and having enormous powers coffered on him by law, is liable to imprisonment and certainly not how to be a Senator.

As the dust settles on Senator Natasha’s shameful display, one thing is clear: her behaviour has left an indelible stain on the institution of the Senate, her people, her family and the women she claims to represent. Her actions serve as a stark reminder that being a senator requires not only intellect and passion but also dignity, respect, and a deep understanding of the cultural norms that underpin our society.

Ibrahim wrote this piece from Okene, Kogi State.