The Federal High Court in Abuja denied the Federal Government’s request to issue an arrest warrant for suspended senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central Senatorial District, after she failed to appear in court for arraignment in an alleged defamation claim.
The presiding judge, Justice Muhammed Umar, issued this decision after the federal government’s counsel, David Kaswe, informed the court that the charge had been served on her lawyer earlier that morning in the courtroom.
On this premise, he denied the prosecution’s application for a bench warrant.
The Federal Government’s attorney, however, contended that Akpoti-Uduaghan should have been informed of her arraignment because her legal counsel had been served.
The judge responded by dismissing this claim, finding that serving the charge on Natasha’s legal counsel was insufficient to conclude the senator was aware of the arraignment.
Following the court’s decision, the prosecution requested substituted service of the charge through her attorney, Johnson Usman.
The application was granted, and the court set her arraignment for June 30.
Mohammed Abubakar, the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Federation, brought the charge on behalf of the federal government.
In the criminal charge which names Natashan as the sole defendant, the FG accused her of making defamatory statements during a live television broadcast.
The allegation, which names Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello as nominal complainants, states that Natasha accused Bello of planning with Akpabio to stage her assassination outside Abuja and claiming it was a mob or local attack.
According to the Federal Government, these claims were made during a live broadcast of Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
The FG claims that Akpoti-Uduaghan made these imputations knowingly or carelessly, fully aware of the potential harm to the persons’ reputations.
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.”
Natasha is also accused of making defamatory statements about Akpabio during a telephone conversation with Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on 27 March 2025.
The alleged statement reads, “That girl that was killed, what’s her name, umm, Imoren Iniubong, 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 Akpoti-Uduaghan knew or ought to have known that this claim would harm the reputation of Akpabio.
