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Summary: In another injustice development, the Senate leadership removed Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from a UN women’s delegation and replaced her with a male senator.
The Nigerian Senate has removed Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from the delegation sent to the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in New York, United States. She was replaced by a male senator, Adeniyi Adegbonmire, despite the conference’s focus on women’s rights.
Recall that the Kogi senator has been facing harassment and injustice since her sexual harassment allegation against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. In February 2026, she was removed from the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission. When she confronted the chairperson, she was told she was not a member.
In July 2025, the Senate removed her as Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations and appointed Senator Aniekan Bassey in her place. She also faced snub from other legislators, Akpabio, when she expressed her thoughts in the hollow house.
The UN event will be held between March 9th to 19th at the United Nations headquarters and will focus on improving access to justice for women and girls and accelerating gender equality. Every member state is expected to sponsor a delegation that will discuss and negotiate the outcome of the session. However, the removal of Senator Natasha from the delegation list portrayed Nigeria’s parliament as a charade committed to the exclusion of women from politics.
According to Senator Natasha, the Ministry of Women Affairs initially invited her to be part of Nigeria’s delegation and was told to submit the photo page of her international passport. She sent the requested passport details within a few hours, but received a response that she had been excluded because the details were submitted late.
When the issue was raised during the committee meeting, the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs, Senator Ireti Kingibe, denied her removal from the delegation. She explained that the Kogi senator was initially recommended by her to the ministry after the first two female chosen delegates, Senator Idiat Adebule (Lagos West) and Senator Ipalibo Banigo (Rivers West), said they were not interested in attending the event. She assured Senator Natasha that she would be included in the delegation, adding that if she did not attend the event, she (Ireti) would also not attend.
However, when the delegation list arrived, Senator Natasha’s name was excluded in place of a male senator, Adeniyi Adegbonmire. In the March 5 letter addressed to Senator Natasha by Senator Ireti, the FCT representative shared that the Ministry of Women Affairs had not responded to the delegation’s sponsorship request, but the Senate agreed to sponsor her and the Ondo Central Senator, Adeniyi Adegbonmire, to attend the women’s event.
“For the sake of clarity, I can confirm that at this stage, only two members of the Senate have been officially nominated by the Senate President and have confirmed registration: myself, in my capacity as Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs, and Senator Adegbonmire Adeniyi Ayodele, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters. To the best of my knowledge, we are currently the only Senators whose attendance is finalised and registered,” the letter reads.
