Ekaette, the wife of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, has faulted the allegations of sexual harassment against her husband by Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, had, in an interview with Arise TV, accused Mr Akpabio of sexual harassment, alleging that he repeatedly blocked her motions, especially on the corruption relating to Ajaokuta Steel from being heard on the floor of the Senate because she rejected his sexual advances.

“Natasha, I’m the chief presiding officer of the Senate. You can enjoy a whole lot if you take care of me and make me happy,” the senator quoted Mr Akpbabio as saying after she queried him for always stepping down her motion.

She also accused Mr Akpabio of making sexual advances towards her during a visit to his country home in Akwa Ibom, recounting that the incident took place a day before her birthday.

However, Mrs Akpabio described Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegations against her husband as false and a figment of a wild imagination.

She explained that her husband had always been a disciplined, jovial man who respected women, especially those working with him.

“Security men are always with the Senate president (SP). So, for that night. I knew I served people. People were at home. The house is never empty when he’s around. Constituents will be there. Akwa Ibom people will be there, and they never leave him.

“And there is no way a man that is as disciplined as that can think of taking a woman to his home. He has a lot of respect for me and his children and regards. In Akwa Ibom, when he was a governor, a lot of women were involved in governance, and none of them, not one, ever say something like this,” said Mrs Akpabio.

Mrs Akpabio, who recounted the cordial relationship between her family and Ms Akpoti-Uduaghan’s family, wondered how the Kogi senator’s husband allowed his wife to make the allegations on air, stating, “There must have been a discussion at home.”

“There must have been a sanction or approval…, and if the approval has come from her husband (our friend), I believe that you would have spoken to me because we are close. He is close to my husband.

“If he did not give her the approval to go on air and make such an allegation, then the question is, does he have the control? So, if the man was working behind and the conversation was taking place in his presence. He could have heard. Even the body gesticulation could have shown the man that there was something wrong,” she said.

Mr Akpabio has yet to comment on the allegations. All efforts by Peoples Gazette to get his official reaction have also proved abortive.