Akpoti-Uduaghan vs FG: Court Adjourns Hearing Until September 23, Grants Suspended Senator N50m Bail

Akpoti-Uduaghan vs FG: Court Adjourns Hearing Until September 23, Grants Suspended Senator N50m Bail
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The embattled suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was on Thursday granted a N50 Million bail by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting at Maitama, Abuja, following her arraignment by the Federal Government on a three-count charge bordering on alleged criminal defamation.

Newsmata.com.ng reports that present in court to show solidarity were a former minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, and rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, among other sympathisers. The suspended senator was accompanied by her husband, Emmanuel Oritsejolomi Uduaghan.

The court, presided over by Justice Chizoba Orji, rejected an application by the Federal Government that Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was arraigned on a three-count charge, be remanded in prison custody pending the determination of the case against her. She denied the allegations against her when the charges were read to her.

In her ruling, Justice Orji held that she found no reason to deny the defendant bail, saying there was sufficient evidence that she was willing to face her trial.

In addition to the N50m, the court held that the defendant must produce one surety who must be a person of integrity that owns a landed property in Abuja, citing section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as section 163 and 165 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015. The case was subsequently adjourned until September 23, 2025, for trial.

Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan is being prosecuted for alleged false claim that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and a former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, plotted to assassinate her.

In the charge marked: CR/297/25, the federal government alleged that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was listed as the sole defendant, made the false and defamatory remarks when she appeared as guest on live television.

She was specifically accused of making “imputation, knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person.”

The charge listed the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, as nominal complainants.

It alleged that the Senator claimed Bello had conspired with Akpabio to orchestrate her assassination outside Abuja, disguising it as a mob or local attack.

According to the federal government, these allegations were made during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s “Politics Today” on April 3, 2025.

She was specifically accused of making “imputation, knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person.”

The Kogi Central senator was 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 cited 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.”

Furthermore, she was accused of making defamatory statements about Senate President Akpabio during a telephone conversation with Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on March 27, 2025. The alleged statement is as follows:

“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 insisted that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan knew or ought to have known that this claim would harm the reputation of Senator Godswill Akpabio.

According to the charge, by making such false imputation that tarnished the image of others, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, committed an offence under 391 of the Penal Code, Cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990 punishable under section 392 of the same law.

Among those listed as witnesses in the matter, were the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and a former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who were cited as nominal complainants.

Other witnesses billed to testify in the case are two police officers that investigated the matter, Maya Iliya and Abdulhafiz Garba; a Senator, Asuquo Ekpenyong, and one Sandra Duru.

The charge, dated May 16, came on the heels of a letter Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan wrote to the Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, senior advocate of Nigeria, SAN, in which she accused the police of bias in the investigation of her petitions against the Senate President.

Akpoti-Uduaghan had entered the courtroom at approximately 10:30 a.m., ahead of commencement of proceedings scheduled for 11:00 a.m.

The charges against her were filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, on behalf of the Federal Government.

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