On Tuesday, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, filed a lawsuit against Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, for alleged defamation.
In the suit Akpoti-Uduaghan filed, she alleged that defamatory statements were made by the Senate President and published by his aide on Facebook.
The senator then went on to ask the court to order the Akpabio to pay her N100 billion in general damages and N300 million as litigation costs.
The dispute between the aggrieved senator and the Senate President became public knowledge when her seat was reassigned within the Senate chamber without her consent.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was moved from her original position in the minority section to the last row. She resisted the sudden change.
When she persisted in her protest, her microphone was muted and Akpabio directed the Sergeant-at-Arms to remove her from the legislative chamber.
However, Akpoti-Uduaghan resisted the directive, standing her ground and insisting on her right to speak.
In protest, the Kogi lawmaker raised her voice, accusing Akpabio of silencing her.
“Since the nightclub incident, you [Akpabio] have deliberately silenced me and the voice of Kogi Central on this floor. You have denied me the right to contribute to motions,” she said.
“I have not been able to take the second readings of my numerous debates. So, Mr Senate President, I am not afraid of further being silenced but I will not be shoved to the corner. I choose to remain on this seat as a senator duly elected by my people come what may.
“The worst you will do, Mr Senate President, is to suspend me from sitting. And I promise you, the fact that I am suspended does not mean that I cease to contribute my quota to the development of my people and Nigerians at large.
“Mr Senate President, I have taken a whole lot from you. Some I don’t want to speak [about] publicly. But I will let Nigerians know how you are discriminating against me, how you have maligned me, how you have dehumanised me,” Akpoti-Uduaghan continued.
“Your choice of words since I resumed in this Senate have [caused me] to be dehumanised. Mr Senate President, I am not afraid of you. Do what you may but I will not leave this seat.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan later stated that she had faced a lot of harassment at the Senate chambers.
“I have faced a lot of harassment, I have been going through a lot, a lot. And I have remained quiet because I didn’t want to be interpreted wrongly, I didn’t want any lawsuits against me. I just wanted to be given a chance to work,” she said.
The senator added that she has been funding her international trips personally since 2024, as the Senate leadership systematically blocked her from attending any externally-sponsored events.
It was not the first time the Senate President was accused of wrongdoing by a female colleague or an associate.
On December 12, Ireti Kingibe, senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), temporarily walked out of the senate chamber after Akpabio refused to entertain her motion on the need to probe the demolition of structures in the nation’s capital.
In one extreme case, Akpabio was accused of sexual harassment.
‘I SLAPPED AKPABIO FOR SEXUALLY HARASSING ME’
In July 2020, Joy Nunieh, former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), claimed she slapped Akpabio, who was then the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, for sexually assaulting her.
“Why did he not tell Nigerians that I slapped him in his guest house at Apo? I am the only Ogoni woman, the only Nigerian woman that has slapped him. I slapped him because of his plan B. Since he couldn’t get me to take that money, he thought that he could come up on me,” while entertaining questions on an Arise TV programme at the time.
“He didn’t know that I’m a Port Harcourt girl. Port Harcourt girls are not moved by money…by somebody telling me that he will make me the substantive MD. Akpabio’s meetings with me were either at Apo or Meridien…Yes, I am accusing him of sexual harassment.”
Akpabio later denied sexually harassing Nunieh, saying unnamed individuals “afraid of the Forensic Audit at the NDDC” sponsored Nunieh to tarnish his image.
