Renowned human rights activist and pro-democracy campaigner, Senator Shehu Sani has revealed how he nearly escaped suspension for public disclosing the salaries and allowances of Nigerian senators. In a tweet on his X handle, the former lawmaker who represented the Kaduna Central Senatorial District said this whistleblowing act would have earned him a six-month suspension but for divine intervention and the intervention of Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu who were respectively the President and Deputy President of the Senate then.
Shehu Sani’s revelation came following the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has been involved in a dispute with Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who she accused of sexual harassment. Natasha first made the accusations in an interview last week, a claim which was denied by the former governor of Akwa Ibom State. The Kogi Central lawmaker has however been dismissed from the chambers for six months for “her total violation of the Senate Standing Rules for bringing the presiding officer and the entire Nigerian Senate to public opprobrium”.
Further shedding light on the embattled lawmaker’s predicament, Shehu Sani who is reportedly the first and only Nigerian senator to have declared his assets publicly expressed that it is hard for Natasha to get support from any other senator as this is usually the case when “you blow whistle too loudly”.
