Former Big Brother Naija star, Natacha Akide, also known as Tacha, has shared her perspective on the ongoing conflict between Senator Natasha Akpoti and Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Senator Natasha had accused Akpabio of sexual harassment, leading to her suspension from the Senate.
In a video shared on her official X page on Friday, Tacha criticised both Nigerians and feminists for their failure to speak out on the matter.
She suggested that the government exploits the lack of seriousness among Nigerians to act with impunity.
Tacha expressed concern that many failed to fully understand the seriousness of the situation between Natasha Akpoti and Senator Akpabio, warning that it could set a harmful precedent in which false accusations can be made, and men can sexually harass women without facing repercussions.
She stated, “I think we can all agree that Nigerians are not very serious people. This is what the political class and that’s why they can do anything and get away with it because they know Nigerians are not very serious people. You guys don’t understand the gravity of what just happened. If Senator Natasha is lying, it means women can wake up and accuse anybody of sexual harassment, accuse any man of ‘grape’ and get away with it. It also means that the men can ‘grape’, sexually harass women and absolutely nothing will be done, that’s how bad the situation is and you people are just there, dancing around the whole issue. This is exactly the time when we have to take the bull by the horns.”
She also took aim at Nigerian feminists, accusing them of not speaking up about the scandal in the Senate. Tacha argued that feminists only raise their voices when defending women who act as influencers while engaging in transactional relationships for money.
Tacha insisted that the allegations against Senator Akpabio were too serious to be ignored and stressed the importance of a proper investigation and accountability for whoever is found guilty.
She added: “Do you know what this year’s International Women’s Day theme is? March forward for all women and girls. Why are Nigerian women not marching and why are we all not marching? The so called confused individuals that call themselves Nigerian feminists, their voices are nowhere today be heard, bunch of jokers.If it’s to defend sexx workers parading themselves as influencers which I have no problem with, your voices will be heard. We will hear from you people, you would be loud as fvck. You’re only a feminist when it benefits you.
“Both women and men are supposed to be at the senate complex asking questions to the extent that the president feels this. Do y’all understand that we have 109 senators in Nigeria and only four are women. Women are not properly represented across board, we have never had a female governor, this is how disenfranchised women are. Women are always given the back seat.
“This is a woman that over 100,000 people gave their votes to, gave their voices to for her to speak on their behalf and she’s facing six months suspension? When one out of four female senators is making an allegation like this, it should not be swept under the carpet and it should not be treated lightly at all. We should see this as women being silenced and if she’s telling a lie, she should be dealt with. The number three citizen of Nigeria is being dragged for something that could be a lie or could be true, this needs to be cleared. He’s too important of a man for a story like this to pop up and we don’t get to the end of it.”
