I’m half Nigerian, half Ukrainian — Senator Natasha

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has described herself as half Nigerian and half Ukrainian, stating that her mixed heritage makes it impossible for her to be tribal.

The lawmaker representing Kogi Central Senatorial District made this known in an interview with US-based Nigerian journalist Adeola Fayehun, where she also denied allegations that she was plotting to undermine Tinubu’s “Yoruba-led” administration.

The accusation, made by Sandra Duru, claimed that Akpoti-Uduaghan had confessed to working against the President’s government, a claim the senator strongly denied, stating that she is not driven by tribal sentiments.

“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 actually 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.”

She said her close ties with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have not gone unnoticed by the Senate President, whom she claimed confronted her husband about it.

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“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 actually 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.”

According to her, she meets the President when necessary to discuss important national issues, including before raising a motion on probing Ajaokuta.

“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.”

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