The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has claimed that the Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, made “useless allegations” against him because her seat in the Red Chamber was changed.

Akpabio also said the lawmaker, who has now been suspended by the Senate for six months, traumatized him and others.

Following the sanctions imposed on Akpoti-Uduaghan, Akpabio has come under heavy criticism.

However, the Senate President continues to maintain his innocence, insisting that none of her allegations are true.

Speaking at an event to commemorate International Women’s Day on Saturday, Akpabio claimed he was merely her latest victim, stating that previous allegations made by Natasha had turned out to be false.

He said, “It was only yesterday that I realized that what we are talking about only happened when there was a change of seat. That is when hell was let loose, and all sorts of allegations came up—only after the change of seat and change of committee, which my Senators know happens from time to time.

“This is said to have happened on December 8, a day before my birthday, which was celebrated in the stadium in 2023. So from December 8, 2023, I never heard, my wife never heard, no Nigerian ever heard, even her husband never heard any issue of sexual harassment—until her committee was changed, and then her seat was changed.

“Have you ever wondered about the trauma caused by that same woman to the other people she has accused in the past? None has been proven so far. Do you even wonder about the trauma this caused to the 10th Senate and the image of the Senate with all these useless allegations? I have refrained from making a statement.

“Look at these beautiful women. They have come across me so many times. Have I ever harassed any one of you? Or is the person thinking that you are not beautiful?”

More than 300,000 properties are without power as a tropical storm edges closer to Australia’s east coast, lashing the region with heavy rain.

Storm Alfred has been downgraded from a cyclone to a tropical low, but local authorities have warned that the threat it poses is “not over”.

Violent winds have already downed trees and power lines, with roads flooded in low-lying areas as the storm approaches landfall. Alfred is forecast to hit the coast near Brisbane before moving further inward later on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people have been told to evacuate from the storm’s path, while others have been urged to stay indoors.

Four million people across Queensland and northern New South Wales are in the firing line of the storm, with dozens of weather warnings in place across both areas.

The emergency services say they are working with energy companies, after some residents were told they could be without power for days.

Around 287,000 customers are experiencing outages in south east Queensland, according to energy provider Energex, while Essential Energy said more than 42,600 homes and businesses in New South Wales had experienced blackouts.

People in Brisbane, Queensland’s capital, went to bed on Friday bracing for strong winds and heavy rain.

They woke up on Saturday to learn that the cyclone had been downgraded and the city would escape the worst of the weather.

But the danger’s not over in other parts of southeastern Queensland and northern New South Wales.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said “the worst is yet to come”, and along the Gold Coast, which has been pummelled by bad weather the past few days, conditions are still pretty extreme.

There is driving rain and strong winds. There are power lines down, hundreds of trees have blown over in gardens, parks and along the main roads. There is lots of debris and emergency services have sectioned off areas most at risk.

The approaching storm has already damaged holiday apartments at Labrador on the Gold Coast. © EPA

“This emergency is not over,” said New South Wales state premier Chris Minns, adding that it is “crucially important” that the public does not “dismiss” the storm.

“It really doesn’t matter to us whether it’s been downgraded from a tropical cyclone to a weather event,” he said.

The state’s emergency service operations commander, Stuart Fisher, warned people not to be “complacent” and said authorities in the region expect flooding to continue over the next few days.

As the storm has edged closer to landfall, nearly 1,000 schools have closed, public transport has been suspended and airports are shut. Elective surgeries have also been cancelled.

Flights are not expected to resume until Sunday at the earliest.

The BBC has spoken to several people from Brisbane’s homeless community, who have taken refuge at Emmanuel City Mission, which has become a round-the-clock shelter.

At the Treasure Island Holiday Park in the Gold Coast, just north of Surfer’s Paradise, a gum tree had come down between two cabins, damaging a third. Nearby, a boat was half submerged in one of the canals a block away from the beach.

On the coast itself, many paths down to the beach are now unpassable. Instead, there’s a sudden drop to the ocean where the powerful waves have eaten away at the sand.

But the clean-up operation won’t happen for a few days – the wind is still powerful and there’s driving rain.

Residents are starting to venture out to look at the damage, but plenty are remaining indoors to keep themselves safe.

The government of the United States of America has thrown transgender women incarcerated in the US prison system into men’s facilities.

This is in compliance with US President Donald Trump’s executive order.

It also goes against multiple court rulings blocking the policy, according to civil rights lawyers and accounts from behind bars.

Recall that the President’s “gender ideology” order said the attorney general “shall ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers.”

It further stated that no federal funds go to gender-affirming treatment or procedures for people in custody.

The executive order was quickly challenged in court.

In three lawsuits filed on behalf of trans women housed in women’s prisons, federal judges have ruled that the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) cannot withhold their medical treatment and was barred from moving them to men’s facilities.

One judge said the plaintiffs had “straightforwardly demonstrated that irreparable harm will follow”.

Lawyers fighting Trump’s directive say the court rulings prevented the transfers of 17 trans women who are plaintiffs in the cases, but others not included in the litigation are now facing placements in men’s facilities.

“I’m just continuing to be punished for existing,” said Whitney, a 31-year-old trans woman who was transferred from a women’s facility to a men’s prison this week. The BOP changed her records from “female” to “male”, records show.

In messages before her transfer, she said she felt like a “pawn in others’ political games”.

Kara Janssen, an attorney representing trans women in litigation, said she learned of another trans woman not included in the lawsuits who was recently transferred to a facility that houses men, and also had the gender marker in her records changed.

Janssen also learned of a trans woman newly entering the BOP system who had gender-affirming surgeries before her incarceration, but was placed in a men’s facility, the Guardian UK reports.