The last may not have been heard in the feud between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan representing Kogi Central in the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly and the Senate President Godswill Akpabio as the female Senator accuses Akpabio of sexual and verbal assault which result in litigation
By Our Correspondent
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan may be regarded as the most beautiful and attractive female Senator in the 10th National Assembly. Since she joined the Senate having won the election through the courts, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan has ostensibly remained an archenemy of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. Both Senators have had cause to disagree on several issues which resulted in verbal exchanges. The latest being the issue of the re-allocation of seats which pitted the Senate President against his female counterpart last month.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, has now instituted a N100.3 billion defamation suit against the Senate President, Akpabio, before the Federal Capital Territory High Court (FCT), Abuja.
This came on a day the Senate began a probe of Akpoti-Uduaghan for engaging in verbal exchange with the Senate President, Akpabio, over sitting arrangement at plenary on Thursday, February 20, 2025.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central Senatorial District, alleged that the Senate President tarnished her image through a defamatory post published on his social media platform, Facebook.
According to the claimant, the Senate President had in the post that was published by his aide, titled, “Is Local Content Committee of the Senate NATASHA’s BIRTHRIGHT?” has maligned her. She told the court that the said social media post claimed that she thought that being a lawmaker was all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the Senate chambers. Aside from Akpabio who was sued in his personal capacity, those also cited as co-defendants in the suit marked: CV/737/25, are the Senate and one Mfon Patrick, who was identified as a senior legislative aide to the Senate president.
The Kogi State lawmaker also insisted in the suit that the post published against her by the Senate president and his aide was not only defamatory, provocative and disparaging, but also greatly lowered her dignity in the eyes of her colleagues and right-thinking members of the public. As a result of this claim, in the suit she filed through a team of lawyers, led by Mr. Victor Giwa, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, among other things, prayed the court to issue an order compelling the defendants to withdraw the said defamatory words and publication made against her immediately and tender an apology to her in writing. She said the apology must be published in a national daily that is widely circulated within the jurisdiction of the court.
She further prayed the court to issue “A declaration that the words ‘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,’ used and written by the 3rd defendant at the prompting of the 1st and 2nd defendants, are defamatory and intended to cause public opprobrium and disaffection towards the Claimant by members of the public.
“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 platforms or in any other manner, which is capable of defaming the Claimant.”
Furthermore, she prayed the court to order the defendants to pay her the sum of N100billion as general damages, as well as another N300million to cover the cost of the litigation, no date has been fixed for the matter to be heard. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan recently had a faceoff with the Senate President over alleged unauthorised change of her seating position in the Senate. Her spirited attempt to protest the change which was said to have been caused by defection of opposition lawmakers to the ruling party, led the Senate President to order the Aide-de-camp to march her out of the legislative chamber, an action that elicited critical reactions from Nigerians.
In the mean time while the female Senator is in court to claim her right, the Senate has begun a probe into her outburst and for engaging in verbal exchange with the Senate President. The Senate pushed the matter to the Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, led by Senator Neda Imasuen of Labour Party (LP), who represents Edo South. The Red Chamber also passed a vote of confidence in the Senate President, saying he was only protecting the institution of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Akpabio mandated the Committee to carry out a holistic investigation into the matter and report back in two weeks.
The Senate resolution to probe Akpoti-Uduaghan was sequel to its consideration and adoption of a report presented by the Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Adeyemi Adaramodu, APC, Ekiti South, on news publications and reports on the incident. In his presentation, Adaramodu, informed the Senate that the uproar which trailed the incident at plenary on Thursday, February 20, had done grave damage to the image of the Senate. Relying on Order 1(b), Adaramodu cited an interview Akpoti-Uduaghan had with the host of Brekete Family on Human Rights Radio and TV, Ordinary Ahmad Isah, wherein she further levelled allegations against the Senate President, decrying the distorted reportage of what transpired and urged the Senate to act on it. In a related development, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan on Friday, February 28 accused Akpabio of victimising her because she refused his sexual advances. The Kogi lawmaker said in an interview on Arise Television’s Morning Show that her altercation with Akpabio began with the latter’s request for a sexual relationship between them.
She said, “The Senate President made a mistake by not allowing me to speak on that Order 10. The Senate President has the right to allocate seats, and senators should adhere, but for a senator to invoke Order 10, it means their privileges have been trampled upon, and that can be raised anywhere at any time. “So, once a senator shouts Order 10, even if they are being dragged on the floor, they are supposed to be heard.
“Once I raised Order 10, the Senate President ought to have allowed me to speak. He could have used his discretion to move that complaint to the Ethics and Privileges Committee or overrule it, but he failed to do that. Instead, he ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to remove me from the chambers and prepare for my suspension. “I did mention that in the Senate, I have been dehumanised, maligned, and all that, and I believe that this situation was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. “Many people do not know what I’m about to say, and I’m going to speak my truth while the Senate President is allowed to counter it. “It all started on December 8, 2023, a day before my birthday and his. We were all in Akwa Ibom, and he held my hand, saying he wanted to show me around his house. My husband was walking behind us.
“I noticed that he hastened his pace while still holding my hand, and then he got to a particular sitting room and said, ‘Do you like my house?’ I said, ‘Of course, sir, every room is beautiful.’ He then said, ‘Now that you are a senator, I’m going to create time for us to come and spend quality moments here—you will enjoy it.’
“When I turned to look at my husband to see if he had heard that or not, the Senate President also turned and said, ‘Let me show you my chapel as well’. “That evening, we left his house at about 11 pm and my husband asked what the Senate President told me. I wondered whether I should tell him what the Senate President said about bringing me there to ‘have a good time’ or if I should just let it go because I knew how much my husband adored him.
“In February, I wanted to move a motion for the investigation of anti-corruption practices at Ajaokuta Steel Company. I listed that motion five times, but it was only on the sixth attempt that it was approved. Many senators can testify to that. Each time the motion was listed, he would say, ‘Senator Natasha, we can’t take this motion because the good of the Senate does not accommodate it’. “He kept doing that, so I went to his office and said, ‘You know how important the Ajaokuta Steel Company is to me and my people. I’ve noticed that you have repeatedly stepped down this motion.’ He replied, ‘Natasha, I’m the Chief Presiding Officer of the Senate. You can enjoy a whole lot if you take care of me and make me happy’. “At that point, I said I would pretend I didn’t hear that. He then said, ‘The ball is in your court.’ When I got home, I told my husband to speak to the Senate President to allow my motion to go through. “You know when a student keeps failing because they refuse to sleep with a lecturer? That is exactly what I have been facing, in simple terms.
“Regarding the nightclub incident, I believe that was not a slip of the tongue. He had told me that there is a number of ways we can have fun if we travel.” The lawmaker called on Akpabio to defend himself against the damning allegation. Meanwhile, a group of South-south women has called the leadership of the Senate and its Committee on Ethics not to plunge the country into pain and tragedy by indicting Akpoti-Uduaghan, as they also applauded her courage, boldness and contribution to nation-building.
‘’Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is an hero and a source of permanent and daily inspiration in Nigeria and on the continent’’, the women in a statement in Asaba, capital of Delta State, urged the Senate Ethics Committee not to recommend decisions which have been decided by special interests. They insisted, ‘’The Ethics Committee should identify and diagnose the crisis and its roots. We are not expecting banal and destructive recommendations on this issue’’. In a statement titled ‘’Alienation of Women politicians in Nigeria, fatal misunderstanding, bullying, the rule of conduct in the Senate, abuse of power and precarious authority”, the women condemned the threat of illegal actions, discrimination, victimization and other forms of segregation based purely on gender.
They said, “One of the most popular and leading labels often put on responsible and successful women by the detractors is that they are rude. That label certainly does not apply in the case of the recent incident. Even if male politicians and their female lackeys in Nigeria were to shout from the rooftops in an attempt to make the label stick, the facts of the incident will not allow it’’. The statement issued by the Chairman of South-South Women in Politics, Chief Rita Okonji urged the principal officers and members of the Senate to treat themselves like brothers and sisters and not shy away from the central contention in the recent event.
‘’Don’t resist the voice of honour and reason. Don’t insult the intelligence of the Nigerian woman. Don’t make your colleagues objects of ridicule in the eyes of the world for selfish interests. Don’t be too bitter against one another, no matter the differences’’. ‘’Our dignity and survival are seriously being jeopardized through conscious and deliberate actions by the male politicians in the country. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s recent action is very healthy and provides the beginning for a genuine change in male’s attitude to women in the country. We hope that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s action will accelerate the efforts to achieve strong voice and respect for women’’.
