Nigerian politics is a brutal battleground for women, where ambition is met with violence, sabotage, and entrenched sexism. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s journey exemplifies this struggle.
When she ran for governor of Kogi state in 2019, gunmen fired on her campaign vehicles, her party’s offices were set ablaze, and her supporters faced beatings—some fatal. She was publicly smeared as a prostitute. Though she lost that race, her resolve didn’t waver.
In 2023, she ran for Senate, only to encounter more obstacles: the day before the election, key roads to her constituency were inexplicably destroyed. After a six-month legal fight to have rejected ballots counted, she was sworn in as a senator. But her challenges persisted.
She alleges that Senate President Godswill Akpabio retaliated against her for rejecting his sexual advances by sidelining her in the chamber—assigning her a remote seat and blocking her legislative efforts for seven months.
Following her formal accusation of harassment, Akpabio suspended her for six months on March 6, 2025. He denies the claims, insisting her suspension was unrelated.
This scandal lays bare the toxic environment women navigate in Nigerian politics. The statistics are grim: no state has ever elected a female governor, no major party has nominated a woman for president, and women occupy just 17 of 360 seats in the House of Representatives and a mere 3% of Senate seats.
Violence and intimidation are routine, from physical attacks during campaigns to structural barriers like exorbitant candidacy fees that favor wealthy male elites.
Patriarchal attitudes dominate, with party leaders often dismissing women as unelectable or relegating them to symbolic roles.
Akpoti-Uduaghan’s experience—coupled with her resilience—underscores both the steep cost of political participation for women and the urgent need for reform in a system that punishes their ambition.
