From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The federal government has charged Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan with criminal defamation for alleging on national television that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello plotted to assassinate her.
The case, marked CR/297/2025, was filed on May 16, 2025, before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The charges stem from statements made during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3.
The government accuses Akpoti-Uduaghan of making imputations harmful to reputations, violating Section 391 of the Penal Code, punishable under Section 392.
She allegedly said, “It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night to eliminate me. Let’s ask the Senate President why, in the first instance, he withdrew 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?”
A second count targets her claim against Bello during the same broadcast: “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.”
Additionally, on March 27, in a phone call with Sandra Duru, she allegedly said of Akpabio, “That girl that was killed, what’s her name, 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.”
Witnesses listed include Akpabio, Bello, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, Sandra Duru, ACP Maya Iliya, and SP Abdul Garba. The charges, filed by Director of Public Prosecution Mohammed Abubakar, follow Akpoti-Uduaghan’s prior suspension from the Senate.