Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has told a Federal High Court in Abuja that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, have “no good reputation to protect.”
The Kogi Central Senator made the submission in a formal objection to defamation and cyberbullying charges filed against her by the federal government. She argued that her public statements, which accused the two men of orchestrating an assassination plot against her, did not amount to defamation.
In a notice of preliminary objection dated 18 September, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan contended that both Mr Akpabio and Mr Bello had previously abused their offices. She stated that Mr Akpabio, during his tenure as governor of Akwa Ibom State, was accused of several incidents of violence, while Mr Bello was accused of mismanaging state funds.
The senator maintained that these past allegations are more serious than any damage to their reputation she is accused of causing.
The application, filed by her lawyer, Michael Numa, SAN, is supported by a 17-page affidavit which the senator deposed to herself. In it, she argued that the suits were “not instituted in the public interest, but rather to serve the personal interests of Messrs Akpabio and Bello.”
She further stated that her allegations of an assassination plot were “personal imputations and did not relate to their official capacities as public officers.” The lawmaker also alleged that the police failed to conduct a credible investigation before the federal government decided to file charges against her.
Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan indicated that she would tender documentary evidence to prove that the charges amounted to an abuse of the legal and prosecutorial powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation, insisting the prosecution was “politically motivated.”
The federal government has filed two separate criminal cases against the senator. The first, filed in May, relates to an interview she granted on Channels Televisionโs Politics Today on 3 April. During the broadcast, she alleged that her life was in danger after her security detail was withdrawn and accused Messrs Akpabio and Bello of being behind the alleged plot to assassinate her.
The second case includes these televised remarks and also cites comments she made during a homecoming event in her constituency on 1 April, where she reiterated the claims. She had attributed the alleged plot to her refusal to succumb to political pressure and a failed attempt to recall her from the Senate.
The prosecution, led by M.B. Abubakar of the Department of Public Prosecutions, alleges that Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan knowingly made these statements with the awareness that they could damage the reputations of the individuals involved. The senator’s objection seeks to have the cases dismissed.
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