By Suyi Ayodele
Counsel: ‘Miss Gibson, in this dwelling on Van Buren Street where you live, which the President owns, is there any means of private access one could use to go from downstairs to the upstairs or vice versa?’
Witness: ‘Do you mean, is there some kind of private stairway or hidden passage by which the President and I could have seen one another without being seen by others?’
Counsel: ‘I will request you to refrain from rewording or redefining my questions, Miss Gibson. I mean precisely what I asked. Did the President have any private means of getting to your quarters or you to his?’
Witness: ‘No. Unless he used a ladder-or the vine that grows on the back wall – but I doubt if the President is, or ever was, that athletic or romantically foolhardy.’
“The spectators in the gallery roared with laughter, and some stamped and whistled.” (Pages 666-667).
The above quotes are from Irving Wallace’s Avant-garde novel, The Man 1964). The episodic novel is about the impeachment proceedings against the very first Black President of the United States of America, Douglas Dilman. Fictional as The Man is, its closeness to the literary device of verisimilitude makes it a compelling and unputdownable work of art!
The closest to its plots in real life is the December 19, 1998, impeachment of President Bill Clinton by the United States House of Representatives of the 105th United States Congress on the allegations contained in the two articles of impeachment bothering on “Lying on Oath” and “Obstruction of Justice” in the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky sexual harassment saga.
Writers are prophets. Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916-June 29, 1990) was one. Thirty-four years after the American novelist wrote the fiction about the impeachment of an American President by the US congress and his acquittal by the US Senate on allegation of sexual immorality, Clinton came face to face with the predicament predicted in the fiction, The Man!
The only difference, however, is that while the fictional President Douglas Dilman was a Black man, Clinton is Caucasian. Both ‘Presidents’ were saved by the US Senate which voted 66 against and 34 for, in the case of President Dilman; and 50 against and 50 for, in the case of President Clinton. To impeach an American President, the movers of the impeachment must secure 67 votes from the senators.
One interesting thing about the fictional and real impeachment motions in the above two cases is the fact that at the last minute, when the trials were hot in the US Senate, both Dilman and Clinton, against protestations from the counsels, volunteered to defend themselves, their integrity and the sanctity of the American Presidency!
The duo surrendered themselves to the hostile scrutiny of the House Managers, who, during cross-examinations, asked questions that went deep into the beings of the personalities. But at the end of the day, the essence of American Democracy was upheld and the sanctity of the US Presidency preserved. Little wonder that America progresses irrespective of the personal failings of its leaders.
Miss Wanda Gibson in the opening quotes was the suspected mistress of President Dilman. Those opposed to the coming of Dilman, a Black President in the Oval Office, concluded that Gibson and Dilman being singles, and having been close friends for five years, there was no way they would not have gotten into some levels of intimacy.
Gibson’s response under cross-examination above, and the subsequent one (page 669) to wit: (‘Of people like you, Mr. Manager, who might think him too black for me, and me too white for him, and who might cry out that our union would be mongrelizing the Congress, where he was once a member, or the white House, where is now the President…” , nailed the trial and secured victory for Dilman!
I have taken the pain to review The Man here because of its relevance to the current happening in the Nigerian Senate between the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Like Dilma who was also accused of sexual immorality against his White House Social Secretary, Miss Sally Watson, Senate President Akpabio is being accused of sexual harassment by a fellow senator, Akpoti-Uduaghan. What do we make of this?
Before we dwell on that, permit a little exercise in sexuality and power here. Pau-Michael Foucault (October 15, 1926-June 25, 1984), a French historian and philosopher, did seminal work on “The History of Sexuality” (1976). In an article published on “The Atlas Society” on Foucault’s Sexuality, especially on the Frenchman’s Theory of Desire, Foucault asserted that “any time desire is present (presumably including sextual desire), the Power Relation is already present.” The philosopher had earlier posited that sex and power “both hold to a juridico-discursive (a model that views power as negative, repressive and based on violence) concept of power that sees power as essentially negative, something that constrains us or holds us back…”
These positions on those two human virtues or vices, appear, unfortunately, tally with the Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854-November 30, 1900), who submitted that “Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” How true? How many men of power, or men-in-power are disciplined enough to draw a line between their influence and their sexual urges? How many men of power have gone down because of women and what is between their laps?
Senator Godswill Akpabio is no doubt swimming in a stormy water which is also infested with wild crocodiles, this time. I want to sincerely believe that the Senate President is not under any illusion that this matter is one that will go away easily.
Again, I also do sincerely hope that Akpabio is aware that it is not only his reputation that is at stake here but that of the institution he represents – the Senate. If he has those understandings, I expect that the number three man in the country will do that which is noble, transparent and allow all due processes to take their course so that justice will not only be done but will be seen to have been done!
At this juncture, I don’t think it is proper for anyone desirous of seeing the end and truth of this matter to pitch tent with any of the gladiators in this case. It would have been a different matter if the two gladiators were not responsibly married. The fact that their spouses had come out to defend them also makes the matter messier.
However, there are certain things that cannot be allowed to go away just like that; our sentiments notwithstanding. Chiefly amongst them is the antecedents of the two people involved in this dirty fight. For Senator Akpabio, the odds are against him when it comes to the issue of his relationship with the opposite sex and his propensity towards becoming an incurable misogynist! The same thing with Akpoti-Uduaghan and her almost every-day-skirt-pulling tale!
We shall not forget here Senator Akpabio’s 2020, encounter with Joy Nunieh, the former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), who alleged that Akpabio tried to get fresh with her at a guest house in the Apo area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
During that encounter while Akpabio was the Minister of the Niger Delta, Nunieh claimed that she had to slap the Akwa Ibom senator, and boasted to have held the exclusive trophy of the first, and possibly, the only woman to have slapped Akpabio! The feeble response from Akpabio then was the fact that Nunieh was not married to one man! How is that an issue, or the concern of the senator? Does a woman, being “not married to one man” give licence for another man to touch her inappropriately?
This is why I think that Senator Akpabio will do himself and the Senate a lot of good if he allows this new accusation from Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan to be thoroughly investigated. And he must allow that! The Senate President must, as a matter of necessity, and in line with good conscience and good convention, first withdraw, or restrain the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, from going ahead with the probe of the alleged misconduct against Akpoti-Uduaghan until the probe of the allegation of sexual harassment is dispensed with.
More importantly, Senator Akpabio must show good example by stepping aside from the office of the Senate President while the probe of the allegation of sexual harassment is determined! Nothing can be fairer; nothing can be more just! He must personally appear before any panel set up to investigate this matter. Presidents Dilman and Clinton did the same. Senate President Bukola Saraki also set the precedent in the 8th Senate. Akpabio should not and must never be an exception!
And for the Senate Beauty Queen, and self-acclaimed Cinderella, Akpoti-Uduaghan, one can only hope that the Kogi State Senator will realise that she cannot continue to accuse every man who crosses her path as being interested in what is between her laps! It is no longer funny that every man wants to have the beautiful senator ‘Take care of him’, as she alleged against the Senate President.
Methinks Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan needs to do a retrospection on why every man would want to get intimate with her. Granted that she is beautiful, but she is not the first meteor in our Senate! The Nigerian Senate had had more beautiful women before, and it still has. What is the issue with her such that men with suspected acrobatic libidos will not allow her to rest?
I asked this question because in the past, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan once alleged that Reno Omokri, former aide to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, made passes at her. The allegation was later discovered to be a lie from the pit of hell as Omokri was in the far away United States on an official assignment the day the senator claimed the sexual overtures took place in Abuja!
Now it is Senator Akpabio. But that does not mean that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s current allegation is not true. My worry is what if Akpabio proved, the way Omokri did, that Akpoti-Uduaghan lied? What will be left of her reputation? Natasha says she has all to prove that Akpabio wanted her to warm his bed; I pray, and fervently too, that the Kogi senator is not just grandstanding. I wish she could prove, and convincingly too, that Senator Akpabio’s third element is not as disciplined as the position the Senate President occupies!
This now takes us to the coming into the fray of Mrs. Unoma Ekaette Akpabio, wife of the Senate President, and High Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan, husband of Akpoti-Uduaghan. Mrs. Akpabio, in defending her husband, has equally gone to court, asking for N350 billion in damages.
Without prejudice to the matter, I wish to state here that it would have been a lot better if Madam Ekaette allowed Senator Akpabio to defend himself and thereafter seek legal redress. The only exception here is if Mrs. Akpabio wanted to convince us that her husband would naturally come home to tell her if he had any urge towards any woman! That is funny!
Mrs. Akpabio said her husband is “a disciplined and a jovial man.” I don’t question that. But I think she should read more of Foucault, knowing that her husband is the third most powerful person in the country, today. Also, and more importantly, the assertion by Ryan Guzman “that every man is a sucker for women with beautiful eyes” could be useful here. She doesn’t have to share the sentiments in the philosophies above!
However, I find it instructive, the warning by Akpoti-Uduaghan, while responding to Mrs. Akpabio, that what would be revealed would shock the Senate President’s wife. Whatever it is, I feel, and strongly too, that Mrs. Uduaghan should have allowed her husband to prove his innocence while she held prayers for the truth of the matter to come out at the end of the day.
But if I find Mrs. Akpabio’s response funny, especially the insinuation that her husband is too “disciplined” to lift another woman’s skirt, the response of High Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan, left me dumbfounded! I still would like to ask who advised the Warri High Chief to pen that response?
I have read High Chief Uduaghan’s response a couple of times and I keep asking on each occasion: what sort of man goes to another man making passes at his wife to ask, “respectfully” the libidinous character “…to extend the courtesy and respect my wife deserves while also honouring the friendship between us. We reached an understanding and agreed to resolve the issue amicably.” How ‘amicable’ can such a reconciliation be with a man who wants to explore and exploit another man’s well?
That was what the Itsekiri High Chief penned in his response to the allegation. An African man confirmed that his wife “confided in me about her interactions with the Senate President.” And all he could do is to approach “the matter with the utmost maturity and responsibility, as it is my duty as a traditional leader who has immense respect for constituted authority and upholds core family values to foster peace and harmony.” Then he added that “despite this agreement, my wife continued to express concerns about the harassment she has endured from the Senate President.” That is an African man! That is an Itsekiri High Chief talking about the man alleged to have asked, continuously, his (High Chief) wife to pull down her skirt!! Wonderful!!!
May my mind never play the ‘evil spirit’ on me on a Tuesday morning! I tried unsuccessfully to ask my Itsekiri friends if they have anything close to Magun (climb not), Tesho (strong and weak) and Alemaro (permanent turgidity) in their local pharmacies! What would have been a better response to a randy fellow, whose libido can only be satisfied with the inner recesses of a married man, than to send him back to his maker or make him permanently inactive in the down region? Oh, ‘evil spirit’, I cast you to the bottomless pit!
Jokes apart. The whole issue rests squarely on Senate President Akpabio. He must be civil, civilised and decent in the way he handles this matter. Professor Itse Sagay (SAN) has words of advice for him in this circumstance. He says: “In developed societies like Western Europe, the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, he (Akpabio) would have been asked to step down, but have we developed to that level? I don’t know.” Senator Godswill Akpabio owes this generation, and the ones coming, the onerous responsibility to answer the professor’s poser. Mr. Senate President, I ask: HAVE WE DEVELOPED TO THAT LEVEL?