Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has sued the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for alleged defamation.
BriefNaija reported that the crisis started after her seat was reassigned following the redeployment of opposition members to the majority wing.
She resisted the reassignment and this led to a public spat with the Senate President.
On 25 February 2025, a suit was filed at the Federal Capital Territory High Court, with the Senate President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Senior Legislative Aide to the Senate President, Mfon Patrick, as defendants.
In the case marked CV/737/25, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer Victor Giwa, alleged that the Senate President and his aide made defamatory statements and later published on Facebook.
The Facebook post titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?” contained a statement that Akpoti-Uduaghan sees her job as a lawmaker as a chance “to pancake her face and wear transparent outfits to the chambers.”
Giwa said the statement was not only defamatory but also provocative and disparaging and has lowered his client’s esteem among 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,’ used and written by the third defendant at the prompting of the first and second defendants, is defamatory and intended to cause public ridicule and hate towards the claimant.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan is also asking the court to grant a perpetual injunction to prevent the defendants and their proxies from publishing further defamatory statements anywhere.
She said, “AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the defendants, whether 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 in any other manner capable of defaming her.”
She is also seeking monetary compensation, asking the court to award her N100 billion as general damages and N300 million as cost of litigation.She is asking for, “N100,000,000,000 as general damages. N300,000,000 as cost of action.”
This is a reminder of the far reaching consequences of public utterances on political careers as seen in other high profile defamation cases across the world.
Recent statistics show that political defamation cases in Nigeria have risen in recent years as public office holders become more sensitive to reputational damage.
Lawyers from reputable institutions like Nigerian Bar Association have emphasized the need for decency in political discourse in the hallowed chambers.