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Natasha disclosed this in an interview with Adeola Fayehun on YouTube on May 31, 2025.
According to reports, one Sandra Duru, a UK-based businesswoman was said to have accused Natasha of aiming to campaign against the President by attacking the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to bring about the downfall of the Tinubu administration in the National Assembly.
However, speaking with Fayehun, Akpoti-Uduaghan stated that she never made such remarks, emphasising that she is not a tribalist.
She said, “People who know me know that I am not a tribalist. I respect and appreciate every tribe in Nigeria, every ethnicity.
“I am half Nigerian and half Ukrainian—who am I to talk about tribe when I am one part of the other world? That is not my nature; that is not my language.
“If anybody said that, it’s probably her team, the people who have sponsored her. Her sponsors are the ones who have probably put those words to her because they knew that I had enjoyed a lot of support from Nigerians, not just in Kogi State, but across the country and even in the diaspora.”
Natasha stated that because Akpabio knows of the cordial relationship that exists between her and President Tinubu, he (Akpabio) is not comfortable with it.
She said, “The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, also knows that I enjoyed a good relationship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I have not said it in the open before, but I am saying it now, and that annoyed him because there was a time when the Senate President told my husband, ‘Are you aware that your wife goes to see the President?’ and my husband told him he was aware.
“Whenever I have critical issues to raise, like before I brought up the issue of probing Ajaokuta, I did meet with Mr. President to make sure he knew the nature of it, and he was okay with it. For other matters, too, I have met him in person.
“So, I do not have a hostile relationship with the President, even though I am in the opposition. I keep saying, the good people of Kogi Central voted me as a Senator to work, not to antagonise or create enmity.
“I want the people to know my issue is with the Senate President—not the entire Senate, the Nigerian people, the institutions, or the Presidency,” she said.
She also asserted that her suspension from the Senate was not the result of a simple seating dispute but a premeditated effort to silence her dissent.
She noted that she once shared a cordial relationship with Akpabio, partly due to his longstanding friendship with her husband.
However, personal and political conflicts emerged when she resisted the Senate President’s alleged corruption demands.
“The narrative being pushed, that I caused a scene over a seat, is a lie,” she stated emphatically.
“I raised a matter of privilege under Chapter 4, Item 9b of the Senate Rules, which demands immediate attention. But Senate President Akpabio abruptly cut me off, ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort me out, and instructed the Clerk to prepare my suspension letter. That wasn’t a spontaneous reaction—it was a script already written.”
“He has no authority to suspend a senator unilaterally on the Senate floor. The manner in which he ordered my suspension—as if I were a staff member in his living room—was not only unlawful but degrading. My reaction was a response to a decision already made,” she stated.
She further alleged that her troubles intensified after she submitted a formal petition against the Senate leadership a day before her suspension.
“My suspension was retaliation. The ethics report they referenced was merely a cover. I had raised serious allegations that shook the establishment, and the very next day, I was silenced.”
Natasha also revealed details about her tenure as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content. She accused Akpabio of demanding a “progress report” that she later learned was a euphemism for financial or political kickbacks.
“He laughed and directed me to meet a senior senator who bluntly said I should return money or jobs from committee dealings to him, when I asked how, I was told to pressure agencies, like the Minister of Petroleum or the Executive Secretary, to bring funds or positions for the Senate President. That is corruption, and I refused.”
Her refusal to comply, she said, fueled ongoing conflict with Akpabio. “I told my husband and confronted Akpabio directly, saying I wouldn’t participate. He replied, ‘Then you’re not fit to chair any committee.’ That’s when I realized this wasn’t about my performance—it was about illicit returns.”
The suspended senator also alleged that senators face coercion from unnamed political “fathers,” especially during budget negotiations. “Akpabio has turned Senate sessions into farcical distractions, masking behind-the-scenes lobbying and intimidation. What I experienced many others endured.”
