The suspended Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, appeared at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on June 19, 2025, for arraignment on charges of alleged defamation. The senator arrived at the court around 10:30 am, ahead of the scheduled 11:00 am session, and awaited the presiding judge’s entrance.
The criminal charge, filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mohammed Abubakar, on behalf of the Federal Government, accuses Akpoti-Uduaghan of making defamatory statements against Senate President Godswill Akpabio during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
The Federal Government alleges that the senator claimed that former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello conspired with Akpabio to orchestrate her assassination outside Abuja, disguised as a mob attack. The charge states that Akpoti-Uduaghan 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 further accuses her of making similar defamatory remarks during a telephone conversation with Sandra C. Duru on March 27, 2025, alleging that organs of a murdered girl were used for the wife of the Senate President.
Senate President Akpabio, former Governor Bello, and four others have been listed as witnesses in the trial. The case is marked CR/297/25 and is ongoing at the FCT High Court.
