Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a N100 billion suit against Senator Godswill Akpabio, the President of the Senate, alleging defamation.
This follows her objections to the reassignment of her Senate seat after a reshuffle caused by opposition members switching to the majority wing. She resisted the move, leading to a confrontation with the Senate President.
The Kogi lawmaker has been referred to the Senate Disciplinary Committee following the dispute over the seating arrangement.
In a suit filed on 25 February 2025 before the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Akpoti-Uduaghan named the Senate President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Mfon Patrick, the Senior Legislative Aide to the Senate President, as the second and third defendants.
In the suit, identified as CV/737/25, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer Victor Giwa, claimed defamatory statements were made by the Senate President and shared by his aide on Facebook.
The post, titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?” included a statement implying that Akpoti-Uduaghan believed being a lawmaker was merely about “pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers.”
Giwa argued that the statement was defamatory, insulting, and damaging to his client’s reputation in the eyes of her colleagues and the public.
He said, “A DECLARATION that the words, ‘It is 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 third defendant at the prompting of the first and second defendants, is defamatory and intended to cause public scorn and animosity toward the claimant.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan also sought a court order to prevent the defendants and their associates from making further defamatory statements against her.
She requested, “An ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the defendants, whether acting by themselves or through their agents, privies, assigns, or associates, from further publishing or causing to be published the said defamatory words or any similar publications about the claimant on social media or any other platform capable of defaming her.”
Additionally, she demanded the defendants pay her N100 billion in general damages and N300 million to cover litigation costs.
“An order for the payment of N100,000,000,000 as general damages. An order for the payment of N300,000,000 as the cost of action,” she concluded in her suit.
