On March 15, 2025, reports surfaced online, claiming that Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, is planning to temporarily step down to facilitate an investigation into sexual harassment allegations made by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
This report was shared by Sahara Reporters via its website, and in no time, it went viral.
Sahara Reporters also published this report via its Facebook and X channels.
The widespread nature of this news is what prompted this FactCheck you are about to read.
On X, Sahara Reporters’ post gained 122.6K impressions, 1.1K likes, and 178 comments, many lashing out at the Senate President.
Screenshot of post from X
Also, as of the time of this check, the post has gathered 2.9K impressions, and 427 shares on Facebook.
Screenshot from Facebook
Many blogs and users also shared this report via Facebook. Some of the users who shared the report include: Igbo TV, Extra News Blog, Tony Nwaje, Reallife TV, Waka9ja etc.
Now, let’s find out if this report is actually true.
Verification
Let’s begin our check with the number one search platform; Google.
We combined the keyword; Akpabio Step Down, for our verification.
Our findings showed that no well-known media house published this report except TheNigerianVoice.com.
Also, it was obvious that the above platform copied the report from Sahara Reporters.
We also combined the same keywords; Akpabio Step Down, for a verification process on YouTube.
We found no video suggesting or backing Sahara Reporters’ report.
What we found instead were old videos of Akpabio stepping down for Tinubu during the APC primary election.
Screenshot from YouTube
We also checked Akpabio’s social media pages to see if any statement of stepping down was published by the Senate President.
Sadly, the Senate President is not on social media, hence, there was no official statement from Akpabio published on any social network.
Conclusion
As of now, there is no official confirmation or credible evidence to support the claim that Senate President Godswill Akpabio is planning to step down temporarily to facilitate an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations made by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The allegations remain unsubstantiated, and the Senate has taken official actions unrelated to the harassment claims.
Therefore, reports suggesting Akpabio’s intention to step down are false.
