The Senate threw its weight behind the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, as the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Mrs Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, filed a N100.3bn defamation lawsuit against Akpabio.
The lawsuit resulted from Akpabio’s altercation with the female Kogi lawmaker last week on the transfer of her seat.
Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed defamation in her lawsuit, CV/737/25, and sought N100.3 billion in damages.
However, Senator Adaramodu, the Senate spokesperson, stated in an interview that Akpoti-Uduaghan would fail because “the parliament enjoys absolute privilege.”
“We are not aware of any suit for now but let me state here that the parliament enjoys absolute privilege in the conduct of its affairs and what it does in proper legislative setting is not actionable. This is all we can say for now,” Adaramodu said.
The Intercept reported that Akpoti-Uduaghan and Akpabio were engaged in a heated verbal exchange during plenary last week when the Kogi lawmaker protested the relocation of her seat.
In the heat of the argument, the Senate President called on the Senate security to walk the female senator out of the chambers, but fellow lawmakers’ intervention saved the situation from degenerating out of hand.
In a February 21 interview with Channels Television, Senate spokesperson Yemi Adaramodu chastised Akpoti-Uduaghan for approaching the Senate President, stating that the Senate is not a place for theatrics.
“What we are saying is that the National Assembly is not for content creation in entertainment. The National Assembly is for serious business,” the Senate spokesman said.
However, in a suit, marked CV/737/25, filed before the Federal Capital Territory High Court on 25 February 2025, the Kogi lawmaker accused the Senate President of defamation.
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Others joined as defendants in the suit are the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and the Senior Legislative Aide to the Senate President, Mfon Patrick.
Through her legal representative, Victor Giwa, Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed that the Senate President made disparaging remarks that his aide posted on Facebook.
According to the lawyer, the post, titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?” included a statement suggesting that Akpoti-Uduaghan believed being a lawmaker was only about “pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers.”
Giwa argued that the statement was defamatory, provocative, and disparaging, lowering his client’s dignity in the eyes of her colleagues and the public.
The Kogi lawmaker is, therefore, seeking, among others, “a declaration that the words, ‘It is bottled anger by the Kogi lawmaker, who knows nothing about legislative rules. She thinks being a lawmaker is all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers,’ used and written by the third defendant at the prompting of the first and second defendants, is defamatory and intended to cause public opprobrium and disaffection toward the claimant.”
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She also pleaded with the court to prevent the defendants and their associates from continuing to disparage her online.
She also prayed for “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, whether acting by themselves or through their agents, privies, assigns, or associates, from further publishing or causing to be published the said defamatory words or any similar publications about the claimant on social media or in any other manner capable of defaming her.”
Furthermore, Akpoti-Uduaghan asked the court to order the defendants to pay her N100bn in general damages and N300m as litigation costs.
“An order for the payment of the sum of N100,000,000,000 as general damages. An order for the payment of the sum of N300,000,000 as the cost of action,” she prayed.
The court has yet to fix any date for hearing.
