The Federal Government has instituted a suit against the suspended senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan,over alleged defamatory remarks made on live television.
The suit marked CR/297/25 and filed before a Federal Capital Territory High Court on May 16, has Akpoti-Uduaghan as the sole defendant.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the immediate past Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, alongside four others, have been listed as key witnesses in a criminal suit.
The government accused the senator of “making imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person”, citing Section 391 of the Penal Code, cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990.
The offence is punishable under Section 392 of the same law.
One of the central allegations involves statements Akpoti-Uduaghan 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 instance, dated March 27, 2025, the government claims the senator told a woman named Sandra Duru during a phone call that Akpabio was linked to the organ harvesting of the late Iniubong Umoren for his ailing wife.
The FG charged her under Sections 391 and 392 of the Penal Code, which deal with defamation and criminal harm to reputation.
Other witnesses listed in the suit include Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, Sandra C. Duru; and two Investigating Police Officers, Maya Iliya and Abdulhafiz Garba.
The trial stems from escalating tensions since Akpoti-Uduaghan’s six-month suspension from the Senate on March 6, following a heated disagreement with Akpabio.
The senator has maintained that her suspension was politically motivated and aimed at silencing her.
She has also filed a separate suit at the Federal High Court to challenge her suspension, with judgment expected on June 27.
