A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, has granted N50 million bail to suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The bail was granted on Thursday, following her arraignment on charges of defamation against Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello.
Justice Chizoba Orji, who presided over the case, also ruled that Akpoti-Uduaghan must present one surety living in Abuja with a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was charged by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation in a three-count criminal case marked CR/297/25. The charges stem from statements she made during a live interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
According to the Federal Government, Akpoti-Uduaghan accused Akpabio and Bello of plotting her assassination and planning to disguise it as a mob attack. The government alleged she said during the broadcast: “Let’s ask the Senate President, why in the first instance did he withdraw my security, if not to make me vulnerable to attacks? He then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi.”
She also allegedly claimed, “It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night, to eliminate me.”
Another part of the charge relates to a phone call with one Sandra C. Duru in which she reportedly said a woman named Iniubong Umoren was killed and her organs used for Akpabio’s wife who was ill. The government says Akpoti-Uduaghan knew these statements could damage Akpabio’s reputation.
During the court session, the senator pleaded not guilty to all charges. Her legal team, led by Professor Roland Otaru (SAN), urged the court to grant her bail, stressing that she remains innocent until proven guilty. “As she is standing there, she is innocent until proven otherwise,” Otaru said, citing the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
Otaru also told the judge, “We are in a court of law for justice. This is a case where your lordship has the discretion to grant bail, and nobody can query it—not even the president.”
However, counsel to the Attorney General, David Kaswe, opposed the bail application. He asked the court to remand Akpoti-Uduaghan in prison, claiming she was a flight risk. He said she had failed to appear in another similar case before Justice Muhammed Umar of the Federal High Court due to problems with serving court papers.
The judge, after listening to both sides, ruled in favour of bail but warned that the charges were serious and all parties must respect the legal process.
Akpabio, Bello, and four other individuals are listed as witnesses in the case. The trial is expected to continue in the coming weeks.
