BREAKING: Natasha Arrives In Court For Arraignment Amid Alleged Defamation Lawsuit [PHOTOS]

The suspended Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has appeared at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, for her arraignment on alleged defamation charges.

Akpoti-Uduaghan arrived at the courtroom around 10:30 am, ahead of the 11:00 am session, as she awaited the presiding judge.

The charge, filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, was instituted on behalf of the Federal Government against Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.

In the criminal charge, marked CR/297/25, the Federal Government accuses her of making defamatory remarks about Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during a live television appearance.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, are named as nominal complainants in the suit.

It is alleged that the senator accused Bello of collaborating with Akpabio in a plot to assassinate her outside Abuja and disguise it as a mob or local attack.

The government claims these statements were made during a live broadcast of Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.

It further contends that Akpoti-Uduaghan made the statements either knowingly or recklessly, fully aware of their potential to damage the reputations of those mentioned.

She is 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 highlights another statement made during the same 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.”

Additionally, the senator is accused of making another defamatory claim about Senate President Akpabio during a phone call with Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on March 27, 2025. The statement reads:

“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 asserts that Akpoti-Uduaghan either knew or should have known that such a claim could damage Akpabio’s reputation.

Akpabio, Bello, and four additional individuals have been named as witnesses in the case.