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Nigeria’s President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, is the target of a lawsuit brought by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on charges of slander.
Following a rearrangement that was sparked by opposition senators moving to the majority wing, Akpoti-Uduaghan reportedly voiced reservations about the reassignment of her Senate seat.
When she objected to the move, she and the Senate President got into a heated argument.
However, Nigeria’s Senate President and Mfon Patrick, the Senate President’s Senior Legislative Aide, were named as the second and third defendants in a lawsuit heard by the Federal Capital Territory High Court on February 25, 2025.
Through her attorney, Victor Giwa, Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed in the lawsuit, CV/737/25, that the Senate President made defamatory remarks that his aide posted on Facebook.
He said that the post, “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?” contained a claim that Akpoti-Uduaghan thought that the sole purpose of being a senator was to “pancake her face and wear transparent outfits to the chambers.”
Giwa contended that the statement diminished his client’s dignity in the eyes of her colleagues and the general public since it was insulting, provocative, and defamatory.
According to him, “A DECLARATION that the Kogi lawmaker, who is ignorant of legislative rules, is bottled up in his rage.” The third defendant, at the behest of the first and second defendants, utilised and wrote the statement, “She believes that being a lawmaker is all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers,” which is defamatory and meant to incite public disapproval and disenchantment with the claimant.
She also pleaded with the court to prevent the defendants and their associates from continuing to disparage her online.
She said, “AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION prohibiting the defendants, whether acting alone or through their agents, privies, assigns, or associates, from 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.”
Moreover, Akpoti-Uduaghan requested that the court mandate that the defendants pay her N300 million for litigation costs and N100 billion in general damages.
“An order for the payment of the sum of N100,000,000,000 as general damages. An order for the payment of the sum of N300,000,000 as the cost of action,” she prayed.
