Natasha Padded ₦30 Billion Into Budget – Onyema

Senate President Godswill Akpabio‘s Special Assistant, Jeff Onyema, has alleged that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan padded the budget by ₦30 billion as Chairperson of the Local Content Committee.

Naija News reports that Onyema said the sexual harassment allegation the Kogi Central Senator made against Akpabio was because she was removed from the Local Content Committee.

Addressing newsmen on Tuesday, during a pro-Akpabio protest in Abuja, Onyema claimed that Senator Natasha, in a phone call, demanded her reinstatement in the Local Contents Committee as a condition to address the crisis between her and the Senate President.

He dismissed the sexual harassment allegation against the Senate President. He challenged the Kogi Central Senator to present evidence to back her allegation.

His words: “We are gathered here to support the Senate President. People can see that the Nigerians came out en masse. They came out both female and male. They came out to support a common transformer, which is the Senator Godswill Akpabio. You know, human beings are different. You can see the allegation that the woman gave to Senator Akpabio, there is no way to prove it. Akpabio has been a man that we know more than 20 years.

“This is a leader from the Niger Delta. He’s a man that is a friend to the women. He’s a man that is a friend to the mothers, the young ladies. Nobody has come to say this. The reason why this woman came up with this agenda, she has been in the Committee of Local Content and she padded money, 30 billion, in her committee. Because of what is going on in the Senate, they have to ask her to step down.

“You can see there was a phone call she made, that if at all they would call her back to local content, the issue would just die. And she doesn’t have any proof to come and say that Akpabio did this or coming to molest her. So Nigeria should sit and see the truth. They are now telling her to come and apologize. And she still, you know, her ego is still much. She doesn’t have anything to offer.

“Please, I’m addressing women. They should stay straight like mothers. They should not support this woman. But if you have something to offer, come in public and say it out. You say you have your evidence, we are still waiting for you to bring your evidence to show Nigeria. And we, the Niger Delta people, we from the Southeast, we from the South South, we from the North, we from the Middle Belt, we from the North Central, we are all supporting Akpabio.”