A High Court sitting in Lokoja, on Thursday, ordered Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Senator representing Kogi Central, to pay N1 billion in damages to the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, over defamatory comments.
The presiding judge, Justice A.S. Ibrahim, delivered the judgment, holding that the claimant successfully proved his case on the balance of probabilities.
The lawsuit, marked HCL/16/2023, stemmed from statements Akpoti-Uduaghan made during an appearance on Arise TV’s The Morning Show on November 4, 2022.
During the broadcast, the senator allegedly described the former governor as a “murderer, killer, perpetrator of evil acts, and a terror to the people of Kogi state.”
Justice Ibrahim ruled that these statements were defamatory to Bello’s character and reputation, and were made entirely without legal justification.
“The said interview of 4/11/2022, in which the defendant described the claimant as a murderer, killer, perpetrator of evil acts, and a terror to the people of Kogi state, was without justification,” the judge declared.
Consequently, the court awarded the sum of N1 billion as damages in favor of the claimant. In addition to the financial penalty, the judge issued a perpetual injunction restraining Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, her agents, or her associates from broadcasting any further defamatory statements against Bello on television, radio, or other platforms.
During the legal proceedings, the defendant’s counsel, Johnson Usman, had challenged the jurisdiction of the Lokoja court, arguing that the suit constituted an abuse of the court process.
However, Bello’s counsel, Friday Ekpa, opposed the objection, clarifying that related cases before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court did not involve the former governor in his personal capacity.
The Kogi High Court had previously ruled that it possessed the jurisdiction to hear the case—a decision that was subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeal after it dismissed Akpoti-Uduaghan’s appeal for lacking merit.
