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| Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio |
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has filed a monumental N100 billion defamation lawsuit against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The suit, filed at the Federal Capital Territory High Court on February 25, 2025, alleges that Akpabio and his Senior Legislative Aide, Mfon Patrick, made defamatory statements against her. The controversy began after Akpoti-Uduaghan resisted the reassignment of her Senate seat following a political reshuffle.
She seeks a court order compelling the defendants to retract the defamatory comments and issue a public apology in a widely circulated national newspaper.
Akpoti-Uduaghan also demands N300 million in litigation costs and seeks a perpetual injunction to prevent further defamatory statements.
The lawsuit centers on a Facebook post titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?” which included a statement suggesting she believed being a lawmaker was about “pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers”.
Her lawyer argues that these statements are defamatory and intended to cause public scorn
“A DECLARATION that the words caused to be published by the 1st and 2nd Defendants and published by the 3rd Defendant acting as the legislative aide to the 1st Defendant on his Facebook page with the heading – “IS LOCAL CONTENT COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE NATASHA BIRTHRIGHT”, where the 3rd Defendant at the prompting of the 1st and 2nd Defendants continued further thus: “it is a bottled anger by the Kogi lawmaker, who knows nothing about legislative rules. She thinks being a lawmaker is all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the Chambers” is defamatory, provocative, disparaging, lowering in dignity the estimation of the Claimant in the eyes of her colleagues and right-thinking members of the public,” the court document reads.
“AN ORDER of this honourable Court compelling the Defendants to withdraw the said defamatory words and publication made against the Claimant immediately and to apologize to the Claimant in writing and publish the same in one national daily newspaper widely circulated within the jurisdiction of this Court.
“AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the Defendants whether acting by themselves, or through their agents, privies, assigns or associates from further publishing or caused to be published the said defamatory words herein stated or any other similar publications about the Claimant on the social media platform or in any other manner, which is capable of defaming the Claimant.
“An Order for payment of the sum of N100, 000,000,000 (ONE HUNDRED BILLION NAIRA as general damages.
“An Order for payment of the sum of N300, 000,000.00 (Three Hundred Million Naira) only as cost of action.”
On February 20, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from Kogi State was involved in a heated dispute with Senate President Godswill Akpabio over a seating arrangement in the Senate.
The controversy started when her seat was reassigned at the beginning of the plenary session, but she refused to move.
Subsequently, the Senate referred her to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions for disciplinary action on Tuesday.
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