The Federal Government has broken its silence on the sexual harassment scandal rocking the Senate and the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Recall that the senate suspended Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, following her petition alleging sexual harassment by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Reacting to the controversy, the Minister of Women Affairs, Iman Suleiman-Ibrahim, said the government is engaging all parties involved in the matter to ensure an amicable and fair resolution of the matter.
She made this known on Friday while speaking with journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“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
