“As a Woman you can’t go into the Senate and claim you’ve been sexually harassed”
“As a Woman you can’t go into the Senate and claim you’ve been sexually harassed”
Florence Ita-Giwa, a former presidential adviser and ex-senator, has criticized Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims of sexual harassment, arguing that women in the Senate should not face such issues once they hold the office.
During a live interview on Arise TV on Tuesday, March 4, Ita-Giwa described it as a “sign of weakness” for female senators to assert that they had been sexually harassed after reaching such a prominent political position.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of blocking her efforts to raise motions on the Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi State, alleging it was retaliation for her refusal to grant him sexual favors.
Ita-Giwa countered these allegations by asserting that women in the Senate should be empowered and confident enough to handle such challenges and avoid situations like the one Akpoti-Uduaghan described.
Ita-Giwa said: “By the time you contest elections and get to Senate, you have passed that stage of your life of being sexually harassed. You go there to serve, and you are all equal in that place.
“And again, it shows weakness; you don’t allow it. It (sexual harassment) can not happen in the Senate.
“I am not saying the lady is lying, but when you get to the Senate, you’re there as a person. You’re not there as a woman.
“At that stage in politics, if you come out and say someone is sexually harassing you, it is a weakness.”
