Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central in the Nigerian Senate, has denied attempting to undermine President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, as alleged by one Sandra Duru, a UK-based businesswoman.
According to reports, Sandra was said to have accused Natasha of aiming to campaign against the President by attacking the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to bring about the downfall of the Tinubu administration in the National Assembly.
However, in an exclusive interview with a US-based Nigerian journalist, Adeola Fayehun, Akpoti-Uduaghan stated that she never made such remarks, emphasising that she is not a tribalist.
She said, “People who know me know that I am not a tribalist. I respect and appreciate every tribe in Nigeria, every ethnicity.
“I am half Nigerian and half Ukrainian—who am I to talk about tribe when I am one part of the other world? That is not my nature; that is not my language.
“If anybody said that, it’s probably her team, the people who have sponsored her. Her sponsors are the ones who have probably put those words to her because they knew that I had enjoyed a lot of support from Nigerians, not just in Kogi State, but across the country and even in the diaspora.”
Natasha stated that because Akpabio knows of the cordial relationship that exists between her and President Tinubu, he (Akpabio) is not comfortable with it.
She said, “The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, also knows that I enjoyed a good relationship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I have not said it in the open before, but I am saying it now, and that annoyed him because there was a time when the Senate President told my husband, ‘Are you aware that your wife goes to see the President?’ and my husband told him he was aware.
“Whenever I have critical issues to raise, like before I brought up the issue of probing Ajaokuta, I did meet with Mr. President to make sure he knew the nature of it, and he was okay with it. For other matters, too, I have met him in person.
“So, I do not have a hostile relationship with the President, even though I am in the opposition. I keep saying, the good people of Kogi Central voted me as a Senator to work, not to antagonise or create enmity.
“I want the people to know my issue is with the Senate President—not the entire Senate, the Nigerian people, the institutions, or the Presidency,” she said.
