Senate President Godswill Akpabio has publicly apologised to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for his remarks last Friday.

Recall that Akpabio had told the senator representing Kogi central not to speak until she was acknowledged, comparing her to someone in a night club.

Additionally, a few weeks ago, Akpabio dismissed Ireti Kinigbe, the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), when she voiced her concerns about being excluded from the capital’s affairs.

This did not sit well with many Nigerians, who took to social media to express their disapproval of his actions.

An Instagram page named Gistloversblog released the contact information of the Senator and his wife, along with names and photos of his wife and alleged side chicks.

In response to the issue, Akpabio apologized to Senator Natasha and Nigerians, clarifying that he never intended to disrespect any woman.

Akpabio said, “Those of us who have been in the Senate for over 16 years are still learning. In the course of talking to one of my distinguished sisters that she should speak whenever she is recognized, I made reference to the fact that we are not in a night club, where people have to shout above the music and the social media went agog.

I’m not on social media but my wife called me that people got angry, they published her number and said people should occupy her. So, she received over 2,000 to 3,000 phone calls a day. And I tried to turn on one of my phones and realized it was in the public. In fact the phone crashed after about 3 hours.

I’m very happy with the interest generated by Nigerians on what goes on in this chamber. For them to be so interested in what’s going on here means we are connecting with the people directly.

The communication was totally misunderstood. Instead of taking it for the nature of what was said, that she should not shout when you’re talking, and speak when you’re recognized, they went into private abuses. I don’t want to say what they did to me, what they did to me, I think I don’t merit it.

In my tradition, we marry only one wife. They listed so many wives on social media. At the end, it will look as if the Senate President had or has so many wives.

I’m reporting to my colleagues, I have only one wife and I’m satisfied with that one. She’s a beautiful and loving woman. I will not intentionally denigrate any woman, I have a wife and four daughters and I always pray that God will lift a girl child to the highest in anything in Nigeria, politically and in business. I also want my children to do well.

So, to Senator Natasha I want to apologise to you, if you felt offended. I don’t know how you took it. But I felt I should tender a public apology to you over the miscommunication and the misunderstanding. So, do accept my apologies. And to my colleagues who have felt offended, do accept my apologies, I do not mean any harm and I do not mean what they have misinterpreting in the social media.”

Watch Akpabio's apology