The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria’s strike halted the arraignment of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, a suspended senator from Kogi Central Senatorial District, on Tuesday.
The walkout, which began on Monday, resulted in the closure of most courts, including all Federal Capital Territory high courts.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was set to appear in the FCT High Court on Tuesday, June 3, on a criminal charge filed by the Federal Government for making defamatory statements about Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
According to the CR/297/25 charge, Natasha was accused of making criminal imputations during a live broadcast and a private phone conversation that allegedly defamed Akpabio and Bello.
The charge stressed that one of the central allegations was the statements Natasha made on Channels TV’s Politics Today programme on April 3, 2025, where she alleged that both Akpabio and Bello discussed plans to assassinate her.
“It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night—to eliminate me… He then emphasised that I should be killed in Kogi,” the charge quoted her as saying.
In another case, dated March 27, 2025, the government said the senator told a woman named Dr Sandra Duru over the phone that Akpabio was connected to the organ harvesting of the late Iniubong Umoren for his ailing wife.
The suspended senator was accused by the federal government under Penal Code sections 391 and 392 for slander and criminal injury to reputation.
The suspended senator was accused by the federal government under Penal Code sections 391 and 392 for slander and criminal injury to reputation.
He said, “Our client is a law-abiding citizen. Why wouldn’t she be there? It’s a summons we have undertaken. Only disrespectful institutions that disregard court orders would fail to appear, and she is not in that category.”
Although the strike has now been called off, a new date is awaited for Natasha’s arraignment.
