The Federal Government has finally addressed the sexual harassment scandal in the Senate and the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Minister of Women Affairs, Iman Suleiman-Ibrahim, stated that the government is working to mediate between the parties involved to reach a fair and peaceful resolution. She made this statement during a media briefing at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday.
“We’re engaging all the stakeholders to ensure that they temper justice with mercy,” she said.
Reacting, Suleiman-Ibrahim described the situation as unfortunate and underscored the need to protect women’s representation in politics.
She said, “It’s an unfortunate incident that should not happen. In the last assembly, we had nine senators that were women.
“We don’t want to be losing any woman member in the Senate or decrease in the numbers.
“We’re going to be brokering peace. We’ll engage all the stakeholders to ensure that they temper justice with mercy.”
She also emphasized that the Senate President had expressed readiness to resolve the matter through dialogue.
“I was at the National Assembly yesterday, at the Senate where we marked the International Women’s Day.
“The last thing the Senate president said was that ‘we’re open to broker peace.’
“So we’re going to be the intermediary between the two parties to see that we broker peace; for peace to reign, and then we’ll continue to sensitise everyone so that we learn to work better together as women and men,” she said
