The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Maitama in Abuja on Thursday has granted the suspended Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, bail in the sum of N50 million over the ongoing FG vs Natasha defamation case.
The presiding judge, Justice Chizoba Orji, granted Natasha bail in the sum of N50 million, following her arraignment on allegations of defamation.
Part of the bail conditions included one surety who must be a person of reasonable integrity resident in F.C.T Abuja and owns a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
In the FG vs Natasha lawsuit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, the lawmaker was slammed with a three-count criminal charge.
The lawsuit marked CR/297/25, accused Akpoti-Uduaghan, the sole defendant, of making defamatory statements against the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, during a live television broadcast.
The charge, which listed Akpabio and the former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, as nominal complainants, alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan 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.
The FG claimed that Akpoti-Uduaghan knowingly or recklessly made these imputations, fully aware that they could harm the reputation of the individuals involved.
The charge alleged that she 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 cites her statements during the programme as saying, “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.”
The senator is also accused of making defamatory statements about 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.”
However, following the arraignment, Akpoti-Uduaghan pleaded not guilty to a three-count charge, setting the stage for a legal battle.
The trial was then adjourned to September 23.
