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Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Photograph: Natasha Akpoti/ facebook

A lawmaker in Nigeria has been suspended from her office after she complained of sexual harassment by the senate president, sparking protests and condemnation from feminist groups. Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan said the legislative body's president, Godswill Akpabio, had made unwanted advances toward her and filed a petition against him.

She was then suspended for six months, a move that was justified over an earlier argument that erupted in the senate chambers about a change in her seating arrangement.

Separately, the sexual harassment petition was rejected on procedural grounds.

Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was being punished for speaking out against the system and that she now feared for her and her two-year-old's safety as her security detail had been stripped. In the first TV interview since her suspension, she told the BBC tht the Senate operates like a "cult".

The Nigerian Senate operates like a cult. The Senate president runs the Senate like a dictator, not a democrat. There is no freedom of speech, there is no freedom of expression and anyone who dares to go against him gets cut to size. -Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan

Those who have come to the senator's defense say the row has highlighted long-standing women's rights issues in the socially conservative west African country.

Mabel Adinya Ade, the founder of a women's rights group, said the suspension had "exposed the deeply entrenched gender-based violence (GBV) and the systemic marginalization of women in Nigerian politics."

Calling the suspension a "stunning display of patriarchal impunity," Ade, in an article published in Law and Society magazine, said "the message is chilling: speak out, and you will be punished."

By stifling women's leadership, Nigeria is sabotaging its own progress. -Mabel Adinya Ade

Of the Nigerian Senate's 109 members, only four are women. Akpoti-Uduaghanis is also the first female senator in her state.

Civil society groups in the country have expressed concerns over Akpoti-Uduaghan's treatment, calling for a transparent investigation into her allegations.

While rights groups and some social media users have expressed their support for Akpoti-Uduaghan, she also has detractors.

After she was suspended, two groups of protesters gathered near parliament in the capital, Abuja chanting ''Akpabio must go''.

Akpoti-Uduaghan had also been subjected to an onslaught of misogynist abuse on social media since making the allegations,

After Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension, other senators coalesced around Akpabio, a powerful ally of the country’s president, Bola Tinubu.

One male senator said Akpoti-Uduaghan had fabricated the claims because she was angered by her removal as chair of a coveted senate committee in February. Current female senators dismissed her claims on national TV, while one former senator said Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims were “a sign of weakness” and that sexual harassment happened only in schools.

Her suspension and the process that led to it was a shambolic show of shame…Male senators do not surprise me. They mansplain even the basic of black and white to justify their selfishness. As for the female senators, disappointed is an understatement [but] like all hegemonic structures, patriarchy also has gatekeepers. -Ireti Bakare-Yusuf, radio broadcaster and founder of the non-profit Purple Women Foundation

Some opposition senators have visited Akpoti-Uduaghan to show support. She also said she had received supportive emails from women across Nigeria, including some who were afraid to speak up about their own experiences.

In Nigeria, most women who are sexually harassed in workplaces don’t even tell their husbands because they are afraid of being judged. -Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan