FG Files Criminal Charge Against Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan [PHOTOS]

The Federal Government has filed a lawsuit against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central, accusing her of making defamatory remarks during a live television broadcast.

The suit, lodged before the Federal Capital Territory High Court on May 16, 2025, names Akpoti-Uduaghan as the sole defendant.

The government alleges that the senator engaged in “making imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person,” a violation of Section 391 of the Penal Code Law, Cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990, which is punishable under Section 392 of the same law.

Notably, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello are listed as witnesses who will testify during the trial.

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One of the charges stems from Akpoti-Uduaghan’s televised allegations that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello conspired to assassinate her.

The Federal Government’s charge quotes her as stating during the Channels Television’s Politics Today program on April 3, 2025: “It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night to eliminate me. 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 emphasized 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 government asserts that the Senator knew or had reason to believe these imputations would harm the Senate President’s reputation.

In the second count, Akpoti-Uduaghan is further accused of defamation under the same sections of the Penal Code for remarks made on April 3, 2025, also on Politics Today, concerning Yahaya Adoza Bello.

She allegedly stated, “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 emphasized that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi.”

The charge contends that she knew or had reason to believe these statements would harm Bello’s reputation.

Additionally, Akpoti-Uduaghan is accused of another defamatory imputation made on or about March 27, 2025, during a telephone conversation with one Sandra C. Duru in Abuja, concerning Senator Akpabio.

She allegedly said: “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, through the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mohammed Abubakar, alleges that she knew or had reason to believe this imputation would harm Senator Akpabio’s reputation.

No date has yet been set for her arraignment.