Court Rejects FG’s application to Detain Natasha Akpoti

A federal capital territory (FCT) high court in Maitama has granted bail in the sum of N50 million to Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi central.

In a ruling delivered on Thursday, Chizoba Orji, presiding judge, rejected the application by the federal government to remand the Akpoti-Uduaghan in prison custody pending trial.

The judge held that there was no justification to deny Akpoti-Uduaghan bail, noting that there was “sufficient evidence” before the court showing her willingness to face trial.

As part of the bail conditions, the court directed that the senator must produce one surety, who must be a “person of integrity” and owner of a landed property within Abuja.
The matter was subsequently adjourned to September 23 for commencement of trial.

The senator appeared in court on Thursday in the company of her husband, Emmanuel Uduaghan. Also present were Oby Ezekwesili, former minister of education; Aisha Yesufu, human rights activist; and a number of supporters.

Akpoti-Uduaghan was arraigned on a three-count charge bordering on criminal defamation, with the federal government as the complainant. The charges were filed on May 16, 2025, in suit number CR/297/25.

The case lists Godswill Akpabio, the senate president, and former Yahaya Bello, the former governor of Kogi state, as nominal complainants.

According to the charge, the lawmaker was accused of “making imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person,” an offence under section 391 of the Penal Code, cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990, and punishable under section 392.

Akpoti-Uduaghan pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

In one of the counts, the Kogi senator was alleged to have claimed in a television interview that Akpabio and Bello plotted to assassinate her.

She was also accused of making damaging statements about Akpabio during a private phone conversation with one Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on or about March 27, 2025.

The charges follow a series of confrontations between the lawmaker and the senate leadership, which culminated in her suspension from the red chamber on March 6 for what the leadership described as “gross misconduct”.

The suspension followed an altercation involving seating arrangements and what Akpoti-Uduaghan later described as harassment by Akpabio.

She has since insisted that her suspension was illegal and a ploy to silence her, while rejecting the senate’s claim that it was unrelated to the harassment allegation.

In the weeks following her suspension, the senator submitted several petitions and made public accusations against Akpabio, including the assassination plot claim.

In April, Akpabio petitioned the inspector-general of police, Kayode Egbetokun, demanding an investigation and the prosecution of Akpoti-Uduaghan for “criminal defamation, incitement, false accusation, and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace”.

Bello also petitioned the IGP over similar claims made by the senator, specifically alleging that he was behind efforts to initiate a recall process against her.