The Federal Government’s attempt to issue an arrest warrant against Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the suspended senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, after she failed to show up for arraignment in an alleged defamation suit was denied by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday.
After David Kaswe, the attorney for the federal government, told the court that the charge had been served on her attorney earlier that morning in the courtroom, Justice Muhammad Umar, the presiding judge, gave this decision.
According to Justice Umar, it was impossible for the senator to have shown up in court because she had never been served with the charge or a notice of hearing.
He turned down the prosecution’s request for a bench warrant because of this.
However, the attorney for the Federal Government contended that since her legal counsel had been served, Akpoti-Uduaghan ought to have been aware of her arraignment.
In response, the judge rejected this argument, ruling that the senator’s knowledge of the arraignment could not be assumed by simply serving the charge on her attorney.
Through her attorney, Johnson Usman, the prosecution requested substituted service of the charge after the court’s decision.
After the application was approved, the court set June 30 for her arraignment.
The charge was filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, on behalf of the Federal Government.
In the criminal charge which names Senator Akpoti-Uduagahn as the sole defendant, the FG accused her of making defamatory statements during a live television broadcast.
The charge, which names Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello as the nominal complainants, alleges that Akpoti-Uduaghan accused Bello of conspiring with Akpabio to orchestrate her assassination outside Abuja and framing it as a mob or local attack.
According to the Federal Government, these allegations were made during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
The FG argues that Akpoti-Uduaghan knowingly or recklessly made these imputations, fully aware that they could harm the reputation of the individuals involved.
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She is alleged 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, bescause dead men tell no tales. Who is going to get justice for me?”
