{"id":161391,"date":"2025-05-05T08:56:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T07:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili"},"modified":"2025-05-05T10:03:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:03:25","slug":"natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili","title":{"rendered":"Natasha: \u2018Money can\u2019t buy my voice\u2019 \u2013 Ezekwesili"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has denied collecting bribe to support the suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.<\/p>\n<p>Ezekwesili is said to have been outspoken in the demand for an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations made by Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.<\/p>\n<p>The ex-Education minister has also called for Akpabio to step aside for an impartial probe and for the senator\u2019s petition to be handled.<\/p>\n<p>A UK-based activist, Sandra Duru, better known as Professor Mgbeke, last Thursday alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan fabricated the sexual harassment allegation against Akpabio.<\/p>\n<p>Duru also claimed that the senator told her the former minister was paid to back the sexual harassment allegations.<\/p>\n<p>However, in a post on X, Ezekwesili said she cannot be bribed to support a cause she is committed to.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see how my unwavering support for your cry for justice has sent your adversaries into a frenzy\u2014resorting to desperate, laughable falsehoods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo sensible and decent person who knows my incorruptible track record is deceived by the ridiculous fabrications being peddled by your traducers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey know\u2014without a doubt \u2014 that no amount of money, not even all the wealth in every Central Bank in the world, can buy my convictions, voice, and stance on any matter I choose to support. So, worry not, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan,\u201d she tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>The former minister further stated that she would continue to support the senator wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n<p>DAILY POST reports that tensions between Natasha and Akpabio became public in February when she accused the senate president of making sexual advances toward her, alleging that the incidents occurred both in his office and at his residence in Akwa Ibom state.<\/p>\n<p>The allegation followed a dispute over seating arrangements in the senate chamber.<\/p>\n<p>The senate on March 6, suspended Natasha for six months for what it called gross misconduct over the altercation with the presiding officer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has denied collecting bribe to support the suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Ezekwesili is said to have been outspoken in the demand for an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations made by Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio. The ex-Education minister has also called for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":161390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[215,11955,254],"class_list":["post-161391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-ezekwesili","tag-natasha","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Natasha: \u2018Money can\u2019t buy my voice\u2019 \u2013 Ezekwesili - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has denied collecting bribe to support the suspended Kogi Central Senator, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Natasha: \u2018Money can\u2019t buy my voice\u2019 \u2013 Ezekwesili\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has denied collecting bribe to support the suspended Kogi Central Senator, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-05T07:56:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-05T09:03:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1746423233.608327.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Natasha: \u2018Money can\u2019t buy my voice\u2019 \u2013 Ezekwesili\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-05T07:56:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-05T09:03:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili\"},\"wordCount\":328,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1746423233.608327.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ezekwesili\",\"Natasha\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/natasha-money-cant-buy-my-voice-ezekwesili\",\"name\":\"Natasha: \u2018Money can\u2019t buy my voice\u2019 \u2013 Ezekwesili - 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