Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said he has not filed any new charges against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
In a statement issued on Saturday, December 6, by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, Akpabio dismissed as misleading the claim that he had “just filed” a N200billion suit against her.
Udom described the report as “misleading and incorrect,” insisting that “Her claim that the matter was ‘just filed’ is therefore false, misleading, and intended to distort public understanding of the case.”
He explained that after judicial activities resumed, the court bailiff made multiple efforts to serve Akpoti-Uduaghan with the originating processes personally.
According to him, “Each attempt failed due to her deliberate evasion of service, as deposed to under oath in the bailiff’s affidavit now before the court. Only after these repeated evasions did the court, in November this year, grant the application for substituted service.”
Akpabio maintained that disputes should be handled through lawful processes rather than online commentary.
He reiterated “that legal disputes are resolved in courtrooms, not through orchestrated narratives and staged outrage on social-media platforms.
“The online applause Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan habitually seeks cannot replace credible evidence, legal procedure, or judicial scrutiny.”
Udom added that her current actions reflect “her pattern during her six-month Senate suspension, an entirely lawful disciplinary measure she sought to delegitimise through digital agitation, only to serve the suspension in full ultimately.”
He said it is time for her to bring forward the evidence she claims to possess.
“It is time for Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan to present the ‘evidence’ she claims to possess before a court of competent jurisdiction, rather than relying on sensationalised commentary designed solely to attract sympathy and obscure the facts.
“The law is guided by proof, procedure, and due process, not sentiment, not emotion, and certainly not social-media theatrics. She is advised to properly instruct her lawyers, file her defence, and finally provide the evidence she purports to have for the baseless allegations she has peddled over this matter.”
The ICIR had reported that the senator representing Kogi Central Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed she had been served with a fresh N200 billion defamation suit instituted against her by Senate President Godswill Akpabio over allegations of sexual harassment.
In a post on her Facebook page on Friday, December 5, the lawmaker said she received a court order granting Akpabio permission to serve her the suit through substituted means.
A copy of the court document, dated November 6, 2025, and issued by the Federal Capital Territory High Court, shows that a justice of the court, U.P. Kekemeke granted the claimant, Akpabio, leave to serve the originating processes on Akpoti-Uduaghan via the Clerk of the National Assembly.
The court ruled that this mode of service was “good and proper service.”
Reacting to the development, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she welcomed the lawsuit, noting that previous institutional processes within the Senate blocked her from presenting her petition of sexual harassment against Akpabio.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.