Natasha vs Yahaya Bello, Akpabio: Court grants lawmaker N50m bail

Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has been granted bail to the tune of N50 million in a defamatory instituted against her by the Federal Government of Nigeria for alleged assassination plot against her by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and former governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello.

The bail was granted by the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama in Abuja on Thursday after she was formally arraigned in Court.

Justice Chizoba Orji of the FCT High Court granted bail of the said sum with one surety who must be a person of reasonable integrity and resident in F.C.T Abuja and owns a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
The demand for bail by the Defence Counsel was granted after arguments for and against.

CAPITAL POST reports that the Attorney General of the Federation, in a three-count criminal charge marked CR/297/25, accused Akpoti-Uduaghan, the sole defendant, of making defamatory statements against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during a live television broadcast.

Both Akpabio and Bello were listed as nominal complainants.

The Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi told the Court that Natasha-Akpoti-Uduaghan made the allegation on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025, arguing that the broadcast was within the criminal prosecution.

According to the FG, the telecast could cause reputational damage to individuals involved..

The charge quoted Natasha to have said: “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. What is important to me is to stay alive, because dead men tell no tales. Who is going to get justice for me?”

The charge was read to her hearing during Court session as saying: “That you, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on or about the 3rd day of April 2025, during the same Politics Today programme on Channels Television in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, made the following imputation concerning Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.

“It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night, to eliminate me. When he met with him, he then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi. You knew or had reason to believe that such imputations would harm the reputation of Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.”

The senator is also accused of making defamatory statements about Akpabio during a telephone conversation with Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on March 27, 2025.

The alleged statement is as follows, “That girl that was killed, what’s her name, umm…. Imoren Iniubong, her organs were actually used for the wife, because the wife was really ill… when they killed the girl, and her organs were used for the wife.”

The Federal Government contends that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan knew or ought to have known that this claim would harm the reputation of Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bello, and four others have been listed as witnesses in the trial.