Senate President Godswill Akpabio

A cross-section of lawyers have expressed satisfaction with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio for recusing himself from the Presidential Panel set up to investigate sexual harassment allegations levelled against him by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

According to the lawyers, Senator Akpabio did the most honourable thing by withdrawing from the probe panel.

The panel was established by President Bola Tinubu on April 2nd, 2025, headed by Vice President Kashim Shettima, with a mandate to investigate the serious allegations that have drawn national attention and embarrassment.

Other members of the panel included the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi; and one representative each nominated by Senator Akpabio and Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Firing the first salvo, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, a legal luminary said there was absolutely nothing wrong with what the Senate President did.

Justifying Akpabio’s action, the one-time president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), said, what he did was the right thing.

“He decided not to be part of that committee, because if he is, there will be a serious assumption that he is an interested party. So, the best thing is for him to step down, which is the right thing to do,” Unegbu stressed.

Notwithstanding, Unegbu said, the whole exercise is a charade because according to him, there are even more serious issues Nigerians should concern themselves with at this point in time.
“For a country like this, with all human and material resources, with so many things available in this country, with good weather, with everything going for us, we are supposed to be a big world economy, a big world power. But unfortunately, because of the type of leaders we have, we are not getting the best out of them. So, my conclusion is that, they should close this matter as soon as possible so that the country can make progress.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Adedotun Otakumaiya, a lawyer and Principal Partner, Deux Loadstar Chambers, Lagos, said rather than blame Akpabio, he should be applauded for respecting the position of the law in such a matter.

“I personally would say we get carried away by emotions.
Because we must be able to separate the legal requirements from political requirements. The legal requirements, which preaches equity, equality and justice. The law says that you have to recuse yourself from a case because you can’t be a judge and jury in your own case,” Otakumaiya maintained.

The Senate President, Otakumaiya stressed, has done the right thing under the law. “He has done the right thing by doing what the law or what morality states.”

He, however did not rule out other possibilities. ” On the other hand, he’s a politician and the political arena is hardly guided by any law. You have to use your connection, your influence to make sure you get the results you want. So the legal arena is very, very unpredictable.”

Waxing philosophical, the Ogun state born lawyer, said, “It’s not impossible for people to come up with a lot of presumption, assumption, negotiation, renegotiation behind doors, outside. A lot of statements like. But nobody actually knows the exact thing that happened behind, after, or on the negotiation table. What we know, what we always get is the end result. Whatever ways that are used in arriving at an end result, we don’t know.
So I don’t want to assume or presume that he’s going to use his connection, he’s going to do this, he’s going to do that. But in the arena of politics, that is what happens. And in the arena of law, this is what happens. He has done what the law requires and that is should be the guiding principle of any form of justice or equity.

“The fact is, he is the Senate President, and you can’t take that surface away from him right now.
You can’t take the kind of power and influence he has because he is the one that is going to form the committee. He is the one that gives them the instruction, that bestows powers upon them. So if I am in that position, I’ll bring people I know I can control. But within the ambit of the law, what he has done is right,” Otakumaiya reiterated.