IPU CAN’T CONSIDER NATASHA’S PETITION – JIMOH IBRAHIM

March 14, 2025

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Chairman, Senate Committee on Interparliamentary Affair, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, APC, Ondo South has said that the petition to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU against the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, by the suspended Chairman, Committee on Diaspora and NGOs, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, PDP, Kogi Central is dead on arrival.

In a statement yesterday, Senator Ibrahim, who noted that IPU could not consider the report, emphasised that Nigeria, rather than Senator Natasha, is a member of the IPU.

He said, “A petition can only be lodged against another member state by a member state. This implies that the IPU cannot consider petitions from individuals who are not members.

“The suspended Senator Natasha is not a member of the IPU, but Nigeria is!

‘Additionally, the suspended Senator cannot represent the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “I served as the interim president of the IPU in Geneva in 2023, and I am familiar with how the IPU operates after presiding over its proceedings.

“Furthermore, as Chairman of the Interparliamentary Committee in the Nigerian Senate, I did not approve or authorise the suspended Senator Natasha to attend the IPU on behalf of Nigeria to the Senate President.”