Kogi born lawmaker, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a lawsuit against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, alleging defamation following a disagreement over the reassignment of her Senate seat.
Natasha raised concerns after her seat was reassigned during a reshuffle prompted by opposition members defecting to the majority wing.
Her resistance led to a serious face-off with the Senate President.
But in a suit lodged before the Federal Capital Territory High Court on February 25, 2025, Akpabio, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Mfon Patrick, a Senior Legislative Aide to the Senate President, were listed as the second and third defendants. The case, marked CV/737/25, was filed through Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyer, Victor Giwa.
Giwa alleged that the statement on Akpoti-Uduaghan was defamatory, provocative, and disparaging, and lowered her dignity in the eyes of her colleagues and right-thinking members of the public.
“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 is defamatory and intended to cause public opprobrium and disaffection towards the claimant by members of the public,” her reliefs partly read.
Akpoti-Uduaghan urged the court to restrain the defendants or associates from publishing defamatory words against her on any platform.
“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 platform or in any other manner, which is capable of defaming the claimant,” she stated.
However, she urged the court to order the defendants to pay her N100bn as damages and N300m as litigation costs.
“An order for payment of the sum of ₦100,000,000,000 as general damages. An order for payment of the sum of ₦300,000,000.00 only as cost of action,” she said.
Moreover, the Kogi lawmaker has been referred to the Senate Disciplinary Committee in the wake of the seating arrangement dispute.
