"Personally, I don't deal much in theory. I have to deal with facts..., Unfortunately, the law has nothing to do with justice, it's merely a method for dispute resolution"-Michael Crichton.
I think people should be objective and open to critical reasoning instead of allowing emotions to becloud their judgement on sensitive issues of sexual harassment. Harassment is not in the eyes of the beholder, especially when it involves a Senator who is highly placed and presumably more free to act. Dr Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the former President of the Nigeria Bar Association has described the allegation against the Senate President as "clearly false and unsubstantiated", demanding a retraction by the female Senator. According to Dr Agbakoba who is also the Senate President's lawyer, Senator Natasha Agboti-Uduaghan has failed to clarify contradictions in her sexual harassment allegations on 8 December 2023 and her exaltation of Senator Akpabio on her Social Media accounts on 9 December 2023, the day after she alleged he sexually harassed her. In his words, "Rather than clarify this contradiction, you deleted the social media posts, which to us is extremely concerning. No matter what was said about Senator Akpabio, the duty to prove the allegation rests with the female politician"
No doubt, deleting such sensitive social media posts shows some degree of dishonesty which will definitely not help her harassment allegations. Those posts clearly shows she was a willing participant in all the events . The courts distinguish between behaviour that is voluntary and behaviour that is welcome. And there isn't any record, or any witnesses. It will be very difficult to get any Senator to testify against the Senate President. Without any witness and documentary evidence, it's her word against his, in addition to establishing her motives for the claims. Making a profane or , 'scatological' joke is not sexual harassment, even though a listener may find it offensive. Discrimination on the basis of gender does not arise here. She's not the only female Senator in the Senate and research has shown that sexual harassment is not of gendered nature. Ancillary evidence of harassment- She was suspended not fired and the Senate President does not have the power to hire and fire a fellow Senator. Her suspension is based on Senate rules which guides the business of the Senate, so hostile working environment may not fly. "A harassment claim brings up the entire performance of an employee. If there is dereliction, even a very old or minor dereliction, it may be used to dismiss the claim. I had one client who worked for a company for ten years. But the company was able to demonstrate that the employee had lied on the original application form, and the case was dismissed. The employee was fired"- Michael Crichton. It’s on public record that Reno Omokiri has established compensation claims for false harassment allegations, this may also affect her recent allegations against the Senate President. The truth is, this scandal is damaging to all parties, no matter the outcome. Poisoned future relations will not be good for the business of the Senate and their future political careers. We 're all just human, nobody is perfect. They say, it's natural for a man to lose control when it comes to beautiful women. Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan needs to accept this reality and get on with it. How come we're all so convinced that Senator Akpabio must have done something when it's not proven? She may be seeking to bringdown the Senate President and she is going to hurt her-self much more. Perhaps, this 'ruthless demeanor' that we are seeing, is "calculated, manipulative attitude by an individual who will do anything-anything at all-to get ahead, to make a name for herself at the expense of others, who will savage the reputation of anyone who stands in their path..,It simply won't work-it hasn't worked. That's all"-Michael Crichton. We are not wishing away harassment, but ridiculous harassment claim is a senseless distraction to governance. The proper thing to do is to get it resolved quickly and quietly to the satisfaction of everyone involved. Unnecessary media publicity isn't going to do her any good at all.
Uche Okeke lives in London. Visit this blog regularly as we seek to communicate the truth and uphold the values that matter most
No comments:
Post a Comment