The wife of the President of the Senate, Mrs. Unoma Godswill Akpabio, has filed multiple lawsuits against Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, in response to allegations of sexual harassment against her husband.
Mrs. Akpabio has initiated fundamental rights and defamation suits against Natasha-Akpoti at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, seeking N250 billion as general damages.
Natasha-Akpoti claimed that Senator Akpabio had made sexual advances towards her in the Senate, alleging that he was retaliating against her for refusing to sleep with him. She also mentioned instances of inappropriate behavior from the Senate President in the presence of her husband.
Mrs. Akpabio denied these allegations, accusing Natasha of fabricating stories for personal gain. She warned of further legal actions against the Senator during a recent press conference.
The fundamental rights suit (Suit No: CV/814/25), was brought under Section 34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 4 & 5 of The African Charter on Human And Peoples Rights (Ratification And Enforcement Act) Cap. A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Mrs. Akpabio sought the following, “A DECLARATION that the allegations made by the Respondent on the floor of the Senate on the 20th of February 2025 and subsequent scandalous and salacious allegations on Arise News TV by the Respondent, constitute a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights of the Applicant guaranteed under Section 34(1) (A) of The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended), Article 4 & 5 of The African Charter on Human And Peoples Rights (Ratification And Enforcement Act) Cap. A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and Section 14 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015.
“AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the Respondent from making further inciteful, scandalous, and spiteful statements that have caused the Applicant and her children emotional and psychological abuse and living under constant threat and fear of their lives.
“AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the Respondent, whether by themselves, their agents, privies, or whosoever from further inciteful, scandalous, and spiteful statements that have caused the Applicant and her children emotional and psychological abuse and living under constant threat and fear of their lives or in any other manner infringing on their fundamental rights.
“AN ORDER awarding the sum of N250,000,000,000.00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Billion Naira only) as exemplary, punitive, aggravated and general damages against the Respondent for her infringement of the fundamental rights of the Applicant alongside such further or other Orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.”
Additionally, in a separate defamation lawsuit (Suit No: CV/816/25), Mrs. Akpabio seeks: “A DECLARATION that the Defendant’s act of claiming on national television, that the Claimant’s husband, who is the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria made sexual advances at her, without any proof of same, has damaged the reputation of the Claimant and indeed her entire family, bringing them into disrepute and opprobrium.
“AN ORDER OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT mandating the Defendant to issue a formal written retraction of the defamatory words and tender an unconditional apology to the Claimant and her family, to be published in 2 (two) nationally-read newspapers to wit: The Guardian and This Day Newspapers.
“AN ORDER OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT compelling the Defendant to pay to the Claimant the sum of N1,000,000,000.00 (One Billion Naira only) as punitive and exemplary damages for the ruinous effect of the Defendant’s defamatory words on the Claimant’s family’s reputation.
“AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the Defendant from further uttering any defamatory words or causing to be uttered or spread, any defamatory words against the reputation of the Claimant’s family.”
