Senator Ireti Kingibe has carpeted Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over reaction to the way her seat was changed in the senate chamber, while appearing on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Friday, saying that the Kogi Senator didn’t follow the senate rules with her reaction.

Kingibe stated that the three other female senators have been silent about the row because they didn’t want to say anything negative about Natasha.

“Silence is golden, especially when one of us is not following the rules, and as women, we did not want to come out publicly to say anything negative about her, and we were hoping all of these will soon pass as a lot of things do,” the Labour Party Senator said.

She added, “The Senate is not a place, where we fight over trivialities like seating arrangements.”

According to Kingibe, Natasha was not the only lawmaker whose seat was moved, adding that other lawmakers were affected by the reassignment.

The chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs admitted that the Senate is not gender-friendly, but that the situation has improved.

She said, “The truth of the matter is, yes, the senate is not gender friendly, but it has improved more than when we first entered the senate. The truth of the matter is that, when we make a fuss and draw the attention of the Senate President to such, he corrects it. Truly, the senate can do better than it’s doing, but there’s hardly anything that was done to us that is not done to men.”

Kingibe appealed to women, saying, “I want women to know that we have to follow the rules of the institution, and that is mostly the point of the visit here.”