* Cite alleged sexual harassment of ex-NDDC boss Joy Nunieh
A coalition of women groups in the South-South region, the South-South Women Compatriots (SWC), has threatened to protest naked if the endorsement of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the President of the Senate by President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is not rescinded.
The coalition, which issued the threat during a press conference in Abuja on Monday, said Akpabio is not deserving of the position of Nigeria’s number three citizen, claiming that he does not have respect for women following an incident in which he was alleged to have sexually assaulted a former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joy Nunieh.
The coalition’s spokesperson, Dr Imma Ubong, declared through a statement that the group gave Tinubu a seven-day ultimatum to renounce the endorsement of Akpabio, failing which they would hit the streets in a naked protest.
“We the South-South Women Compatriots, made up of 60 percent women in the country, are here to state why Godswill Akpabio shouldn’t be the President of the Senate,” the statement read.
“We are giving the President-elect, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others seven days to reverse their decision on Akpabio if it is true that they are the ones behind him, or we will protest naked on the streets of Abuja to drive home our demand. Your Excellency, please hearken to our plea.
“We the Nigerian women find it disheartening that the name of the President-elect will be peddled as having endorsed Akpabio.
“We don’t want to believe that his silence means consent. The President, as a matter of urgency, must come out to dissociate himself from this Akpabio.
“Former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joy Nunieh, once claimed that she slapped Godswill Akpabio for sexually assaulting her; this news was all over the world.”