Natasha sues Akpabio for defamation, demands N100 billion in damages

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Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has taken legal action against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, over alleged defamation.

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The senator demanded N100 billion in general damages and N300 million in litigation costs.

The lawsuit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on 25 February through her counsel, Victor Giwa, also listed Mfon Patrick, a senior legislative aide to Mr Akpabio, as a defendant.

The case resulted from a Facebook post allegedly made by Mr Patrick following a heated argument between the senate president and Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan over a change in her seat in the Senate chamber last Thursday.

Alleged defamatory statements

In the suit, marked CV/737/25, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan said the post was defamatory, provocative, and damaging to her reputation.

She cited a statement from the post titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?”

She argued that the post claimed that she had little understanding of legislative rules and suggested that she believed being a lawmaker was solely about “pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers.”

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The senator stated that these remarks were false and meant to ridicule her, damage her credibility, and expose her to public contempt.

She then asked the court to declare the statements defamatory, order Mr Akpabio and his aide to pay N100 billion in general damages and award her N300 million as litigation costs.

She also prayed the court to restrain the defendants and their associates from making further defamatory statements against her on any social media platform.

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Senate’s disciplinary action

The controversy over Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s refusal to switch seats had also attracted disciplinary scrutiny.

On Tuesday, the Senate referred the matter to its Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions for investigation.

The committee, chaired by Senator Neda Emasuen of Edo South, was given two weeks to submit its findings and recommendations.

Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan was absent from Tuesday’s plenary session.