When Nigeria’s third most powerful politician was accused of sexual harassment on national television this year, a fierce backlash ensued — against his accuser.
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of four women in Nigeria’s 109-seat Senate, was suspended for six months without pay in February. She said the suspension was punishment for speaking out against Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Nigerian Senate.
Then, angry voters in her constituency in central Nigeria began campaigning to have her removed.
The ordeal has highlighted what women in Nigeria say is the sexism faced by female politicians in their country, and the risks of speaking out in a nation where few women hold political power.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest economy, but it has the lowest representation of women in Parliament on the continent. It ranks in the bottom five globally.
Through a written response sent by a lawyer, Mr. Akpabio denied Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s accusations, and he declined an interview request, citing continuing legal proceedings.
“It’s a first at that level in Nigeria,” Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former Nigerian minister of education, said of the accusation against such a high-ranking official. “But it’s a classic abuse of power, where a woman is denied the right to be heard out,” she added.
Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan, 45, who was elected in 2023, said that Mr. Akpabio made sexual advances in December of that year when she and her husband visited Mr. Akpabio’s home. Mr. Akpabio squeezed her hand and told her, “I will make an opportunity for us to come here and have a good moment,” she said.
Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan said that Mr. Akpabio later invited her to a hotel and made lewd remarks in the Senate building, including, “‘You can enjoy a lot of benefits if you make me happy.’”
In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan said she kept rejecting the advances, but did not talk about them or file a legal complaint.
“The moment you speak out on sexual harassment, you’re guilty,” she said. Throughout her two senatorial campaigns in 2018 and 2022, Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan faced repeated online harassment and accusations that she was a prostitute. Such accusations are commonly leveled against women in Nigerian politics.
“We are made to bear it, to see it as part of life,” she added.
Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan said that last year, she began avoiding the Senate cafeteria and other areas of the building where she might run into Mr. Akpabio, just to escape his sexual advances.
In February, Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan said that her seat had been moved to a remote corner of the Senate without her consent, and that she was not told why. She came out with her accusations against Mr. Akpabio on Nigerian television later that month.
Days after she went public, the Senate’s ethics committee suspended Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, accusing her of unruly behavior during a dispute over the new seating arrangement. It also dismissed a sexual harassment petition she filed against Mr. Akpabio, citing a rule that prohibits victims from filing their own complaints. (The petition must be filed by someone else on the victim’s behalf.)
Since the suspension, Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan has received no public support from her three female peers. Mr. Akpabio’s wife has filed a defamation lawsuit.
“Women are part of the same patronage system as men are in Nigerian politics,” said Ayomide Ladipo, a Nigerian analyst. “Speaking out against a powerful man with lots of resources and political clout makes you risk being blacklisted or victimized.”
Mr. Akpabio, 62, is a close ally of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president of Nigeria and leader of the governing All Progressives Congress. Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan is a member of the opposition People’s Democratic Party.
Another female public official, Joy Nunieh, accused Mr. Akpabio of sexual harassment in 2020. Nigeria’s former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, an opponent of Mr. Akpabio, said he had a “habit of abusing women.”
Thousands of supporters rallied on Tuesday when Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan made an impromptu visit to her district in Kogi Central. But even in Kogi Central, nearly half of all registered voters signed a petition last week calling for her removal, just short of the 50 percent threshold needed to force her out.
No major political party has ever nominated a woman as a presidential candidate in Nigeria. The share of female lawmakers is under 10 percent, according to Invictus Africa, a nonprofit.
Other economic powerhouses on the continent have greater representation of women in politics. In Kenya, a quarter of lawmakers are women. That rate reaches 40 percent in Senegal, and nearly 50 percent in South Africa. Rwanda has the world’s highest rate of female lawmakers, at 61 percent.
All have implemented quota systems in some capacity. Nigeria has not.
“Men make you feel like sitting in the Senate is a privilege,” Ms. Akpoti-Uduaghan said. “I’ve earned my seat. A hostile environment to women sets our democracy back.”
Pius Adeleye contributed reporting from Eket, Nigeria.
