The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, have refrained from commenting on fresh allegations made by United States-based activist Sandra Duru, popularly known as Prof Mgbeke, who claimed that Akpabio engaged her to mount a campaign against the Kogi senator.
Duru made the allegation in a nine-minute audio recording published on social media on Friday. The recording gained widespread attention online on Saturday.
The latest claim represents a reversal of Duru’s earlier account, in which she alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan had approached her with a request to make allegations against Akpabio.
Describing the latest recording as a preview of what she said would be additional disclosures, Duru claimed that it provided further details about her relationship with Akpabio and the dispute involving the Senate President and Akpoti-Uduaghan.
She also released portions of conversations featuring a male voice she identified as that of Akpabio. According to her, the discussions touched on political developments involving former Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, and a senator from the state, Ned Nwoko.
In one of the excerpts, the Senate President was allegedly heard saying that Okowa’s decision to join the All Progressives Congress was driven by concerns surrounding corruption cases rather than genuine conviction.
However, as of Sunday, the authenticity of the recording, the identities of the voices heard in it and the broader context of the conversation could not be independently established, according to The PUNCH.
Attempts to obtain a response from Akpabio’s media aide, Eseme Eyiboh, were unsuccessful.
Eyiboh did not answer calls placed to his telephone and also failed to respond to messages requesting his reaction to the allegation.
The Akpoti-Uduaghan camp equally declined to comment on the development.
When contacted, the senator’s media aide, Mike Idoko, said the camp was not willing to discuss the matter.
“We have no comment on this issue, please,” he told our reporter on the phone before cutting the call.
The latest allegation comes more than a year after Duru became involved in the public dispute between Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan.
In May 2025, Duru had alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan offered her N200m to fabricate allegations against Akpabio.
Akpoti-Uduaghan rejected the allegation, maintaining that Duru’s claims were false.
The disagreement subsequently intensified, with Akpoti-Uduaghan petitioning the Inspector-General of Police over allegations involving Akpabio and Duru.
She also sought an investigation into what her lawyers characterised as a coordinated effort to undermine her.
Duru has now put forward the latest audio recording as evidence supporting a different version of her dealings with the Senate President.
As of the time of filing this report, neither Akpabio nor his office had publicly authenticated or rejected the recording or its contents.
The PUNCH had reported on January 24, 2026, that a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory had barred Duru and Meta Platforms Inc., the operator of Facebook, from further distributing materials alleged to be defamatory against Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The order was issued by Justice I. Mohammed in Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/229/2025, following an application by Akpoti-Uduaghan for urgent judicial intervention over what she described as persistent attacks on her reputation on social media.
According to a Certified True Copy of the ruling seen by our correspondent, the court found that the application presented “a serious question to be tried” and that urgent action was necessary to avert irreparable harm to the claimant’s reputation while the substantive case was pending.
Justice Mohammed consequently ordered that Duru, “either by herself, her agents, privies, or howsoever called, is restrained from further publishing, posting, sharing, disseminating or promoting on Facebook or any other social media platform any material containing defamatory, scandalous, inciteful or injurious content against the Applicant pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.”
The court further ordered Meta Platforms Inc. to “immediately take down and/or disable access to all offending publications, posts or broadcasts made by the 1st Defendant against the Claimant, whether in her personal name or under the pseudonym ‘Prof. Mgbeke,’ pending the determination of the suit.”
Consequently, the claims contained in the newly released audio remain unverified, with no independent confirmation of the recording’s authenticity or the allegations it contains from the individuals involved.
