Natasha Misses Committee Sitting, Confronts Chairman
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has confronted the Chairman of the Senate Committee on North Central Development Commission (NCDC), Senator Titus Zam, for the alleged omission of her name from the attendance register after missing a sitting.
This followed a budget defence session that the commission had with the committee on Monday before the confrontation.
Sources told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Akpoti-Uduaghan had reportedly arrived at the venue only to discover that the session had already concluded.
The sources further stated that when she and her aides sought to meet with the committee chairman in his office, they were denied access.
The situation escalated when Zam’s secretary reportedly seized the phone of one of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s cinematographers.
The representative of Kogi Central Senatorial District was said to have expressed concerns about what she described as repeated attempts by colleagues to undermine her legislative work.
“I will not watch you people treat me anyhow,” she said, without providing further specifics.
The senator also described the incident as part of a recurring pattern of marginalisation in the upper chamber.
During the confrontation, another lawmaker intervened in Zam’s office in an attempt to calm the situation.
NAN reports that a similar heated exchange had also occurred between Akpoti-Uduaghan and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Steel Development, Senator Patrick Ndubueze, during the committee’s budget defence session last week.
