Sen. Natasha Akpoti is one name many people round the world would never have remembered to be synonymous to Nigeria or the advocacy against sexual harassments just few months ago. The verbal cross fire between the 46 year old first time senator and the president of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpobio on the allegations of sexual harassment had not only become a national debate but even extended beyond the continent to the U.S. and U.K.
Sen. Natasha who is the youngest senator in the 10th National Assembly representing Kogi Central Senatorial District is not just a young vibrant politician who earned her place through sheer brilliance, stint and courage but much more one who always dared the odds in the quest to make her own mark.
Born to an Igbira father from Kogi State and Ukrainian mother after both parents met in the mid 70’s, she attended her primary education at Christ the King School, Okene, Kogi State, and a brief secondary education at Government Girls Unity Secondary School in Oboroke, Kogi. She continued at Federal Government College, Idoani in Ondo State, where she graduated in 1997. Her lifelong aspiration to study law came to fruition when she gained admission into University of Abuja to study Law after which she was successfully called to the Nigerian Bar in 2005 as a Solicitor and Arbitrator of the Supreme Court.
Sen. Natasha’s dream was to make significant positive impact in the legal profession through advocacy and fight for human rights. But her plunge into politics was sparked by an unexpected chain of events that would steer to run for public office; the recalcitrant failure to get Ajaokuta Steel Mill to work for over 30 years.
Her activism for the revival and completion of Ajaokuta Steel Mill since 2015 sporadically warmed this beauty model like lawyer into the hearts of not just Kogi people but many Nigerians at large. She did not fend her advocacy on the basis of sentiments and mere accusations but rather went the long haul engaging expert investigators and researchers for evidence as clearly shown in her two petitions; a plea to revive Ajaokuta Steel Company and immediately terminate arbitration with ISPLAT/GSHL and appoint TPE to complete Ajaokuta Steel Company limited.
Sen. Natasha’s advocacy could be termed as “disruptive” and she over time became known as a patriotic nationalistic rebel nicknamed the “Queen of Steel” due to the aggressive and resilient manner in which she tackled the Minister of Solid Minerals Hon. Kayode Fayemi and bulldozed her expose on the long hidden corruption and conspiracies which took place over the years which stalled the completion and operations of Nigeria’s and one time Africa’s largest Steel complex – Ajaokuta. The struggle of course came with heavy blows with smear campaigns to discredit her advocacy as one sponsored to sabotage former president Buhari’s government. This lone voice of 2015 turned into a movement of millions of Nigerian supporters within and in diaspora who connected to her transparent, diligent and life-risking advocacy.
Her advocacy would later culminate into the call to run for political office in 2023 under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) against the main contender from All Progressives Congress, the ruling party at national and state levels. Even after an contest which many considered shrouded in intimidation of the female aspirants by the powers that be, her opponent was announced winner of the election. Others would have thought Sen. Natasha would throw in the towel to fate, she instead deployed legal prowess to identify mistakes by electoral officials leading to her victory at the election tribunal and Appeal Court. This victory would become a stern sign to many who would easily shove her aside as just a fine face. She proved brain and brawn.
While in the Senate, she did not only continue in advocating for the actualization of Ajaokuta Steel Mill as the purveyor of the country’s industrialization but committed to exposing corruption and abuse in the management of the unproductive Mill. She raised alarm over billions of naira purported to be embezzled by the management. Her dogged posture to fight for the company to come to fruition is no mere feat, especially how governors, ministers and even presidents had been silenced on the project over the past decades.
Sen. Natasha had becomes embroiled in the fight to keep her seat in the Senate and her people a voice, but many wonder if her debacle with the Senate president is a tale of two friends’ bastion falling apart or it is that she has bite more than she can chew. Some even say, maybe it is the toes that she had stomped her high heels on who are jostling to pull her hairs off.
Will Sen. Natasha win her way back to the Senate to see the actualization of Ajaokuta white elephant project? How far will her detractors be willing to go to bury her aspiration for millions of Nigerians? How well will the odds favor her this time?
Written by Simon Tuleh, Publisher of U50 Magazine simonbigfidel@gmail.com