JUST IN: Natasha Takes Akpabio to Court Over Alleged Defamation

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a lawsuit against Senate President Godswill Akpabio over alleged defamatory remarks. Read more on the legal battle.

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a lawsuit against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, alleging defamation.

The lawsuit was submitted to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Tuesday.

In addition to Akpabio, his senior legislative aide, Mfon Patrick, was also named as a defendant, becoming the second and third respondents in the case.

In the lawsuit, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, represented by her attorney Victor Giwa, addressed comments made by Akpabio. His aide had posted these remarks on Facebook under the title “Is local content committee of the senate NATASHA’s BIRTHRIGHT.” In this post, he alleged that the claimant believed being a lawmaker was simply about applying makeup and wearing revealing clothes to sessions in the Chambers.

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Giwa claimed that the statement about Akpoti-Uduaghan was defamatory, provocative, and disparaging, diminishing her dignity in front of her colleagues and reasonable members of the public.

The reliefs partly state that the statement, “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,” written by the 3rd defendant at the behest of the 1st and 2nd defendants, is defamatory and aims to incite public contempt and disapproval towards the claimant among members of society.

Akpoti-Uduaghan requested that the court prohibit the defendants or their associates from publishing any defamatory statements about her on any platform.

She requested a permanent injunction to prevent the defendants, or anyone acting on their behalf such as agents, associates, or assigns, from continuing to publish or cause others to publish the specified defamatory statements about her. This applies both on social media and through any other means that could potentially defame her.

However, she requested that the court mandate the defendants to compensate her with ₦100 billion in damages and cover ₦300 million for litigation expenses.

She requested an order for payment of ₦100,000,000,000 as general damages and another for the sum of ₦300,000,000.00 to cover legal costs.

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan recently expressed her concerns after her seat was reassigned as part of a reshuffle. She opposed the move, leading to a clash with the Senate President.

The Kogi legislator has been sent to the Senate Disciplinary Committee following a disagreement over seating arrangements.