With Hilda Dokubo, the chairman of the Rivers State Labour Party, harshly attacking Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, the issue surrounding the Senate committee hearing on sexual harassment claims has intensified. The hearing has generated intense discussions about gender bias and integrity in the Senate and involves suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio. When Akpoti-Uduaghan was the target of what she called unjust and personal insults, Dokubo did not mince words.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
In an interview with News Central TV, she condemned the attempt to discredit Akpoti-Uduaghan by focusing on her personal life rather than addressing the serious allegations at hand. According to her, bringing up the senator’s marriage history as a means to question her credibility was both unjust and a deliberate attempt to shift attention away from the real issue. She argued that a woman’s choice to remarry should not be weaponized against her, especially in a professional or political setting.
Dokubo also called out what she saw as double standards in the way the Senate treats male and female lawmakers. She pointed out that when women express strong emotions, they are often dismissed as being overly dramatic or too passionate, while men’s statements, no matter how forceful, are rarely questioned. This bias, she argued, undermines the credibility of the legislative process and discourages women from speaking up on important issues.
Beyond the gender bias, Dokubo accused members of the Senate of outright dishonesty. She insisted that many lawmakers were not being truthful during the hearing, raising concerns about the integrity of the entire process. According to her, the way some senators quickly dismissed Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims while defending their own narratives suggested that they were more interested in protecting each other than uncovering the truth.
She further criticized the way the hearing was handled, suggesting that it reflected a larger pattern of silencing women in politics. Instead of focusing on the harassment allegations, she argued that senators were more interested in discrediting Akpoti-Uduaghan by attacking her personal choices. Such tactics, she warned, set a dangerous precedent for how cases of gender-based misconduct are addressed in Nigerian politics.
In her remarks, “Why wouldn’t I get emotional if you’re preying on a private part of me? Imagine the audacity of saying, ‘Look at how many husbands she’s married to!’ If one didn’t work and I remarried, that should say I’m disciplined—that I’d rather be a married woman in a home than anything else. But for that, everyone is talking. I do my best to contain my emotions in public because they say women get ‘too passionate.’’.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
