Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the suspended senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, has arrived at Abuja’s Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, to face charges of defamation.
Natasha entered the courtroom at 10:30 a.m., ahead of the session’s scheduled start time of 11:00 a.m., and waited for the presiding judge.
The Federal Government’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Mohammed Abubakar, filed the accusation against Natasha on its behalf.
The Federal Government charges Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, the single defendant, with uttering defamatory statements about Senate President Godswill Akpabio during a live television broadcast.
The charge names Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello as nominal complainants.
The senator claims Bello conspired with Akpabio to orchestrate her assassination outside Abuja, disguising it as a mob or local attack.
The allegations were made during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
The FG opined that Natasha knowingly or recklessly made these imputations, fully aware that they could harm the reputation of the individuals involved.
She is alleged to have said, “Let’s ask the Senate President why, in the first instance, did he withdraw my security if not to make me vulnerable to attacks? He then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi. What is important to me is to stay alive because dead men tell no tales. Who is going to get justice for me?”
The charge also cites her statements during the programme, “That you, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on or about the 3rd day of April 2025, during the same Politics Today programme on Channels Television in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, made the following imputation concerning Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.
‘It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night, to eliminate me. When he met with him, he then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi.’
“You knew or had reason to believe that such imputations would harm the reputation of Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.”
The senator is also accused of uttering disparaging remarks regarding Senate President Akpabio during a phone call with Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on March 27, 2025. The alleged statement goes as follows:
“That girl that was killed, what’s her name, Imoren Iniobong, her organs were actually used for the wife because the wife was really ill… when they killed the girl, and her organs were used for the wife.”
The Federal Government argues that Natasha knew or ought to have known that this claim would harm the reputation of Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Additionally, Akpabio, Bello, and four others have been listed as witnesses for the trial.
