The suspended senator for Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has pleaded not guilty to a three-count charge the federal government slammed against her for allegedly making a false assassination claim.
The embattled lawmaker who was earlier handed a six-month suspension by the Senate was docked before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting at Maitama.
She maintained her innocence after the charge was read to her before trial Justice Chizoba Orji.
FG is prosecuting her for allegedly making a false claim that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and a former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, were behind a plot to assassinate her.
In the charge marked CR/297/25, FG alleged that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was listed as the sole defendant, made the false and defamatory remarks when she appeared as a guest on live television.
It specifically accused her of making “imputation, knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person.”
According to the charge, by making such false imputation that tarnished the image of others, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan committed an offence under 391 of the Penal Code, Cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990.
It added that the alleged offence is punishable under section 392 of the same law.
Giving particulars of the offence in count one of the charge, FG told the court that the defendant committed the alleged crime on April 3, during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
The lawmaker was said to have made an allegation that some politicians opposed to her were plotting to assassinate her.
Meanwhile, shortly after the defendant entered her plea, FG’s lawyer, Mr David Kaswe, applied for her to be remanded in a correctional facility, pending the determination of the case against her.
The prosecution insisted that the defendant posed a flight risk, alleging that it took several efforts to serve a copy of the charge on her.
However, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyer, Mr. Roland Otaru, SAN, urged the court to grant the defendant bail on self-recognizance, insisting that the case against her is not an indictable offence.
Otaru, SAN, described the defendant as a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who has five local government areas under her constituency.
Noting that the maximum punishment for the charge against the defendant is two years imprisonment, the defence lawyer urged the court to exercise its discretion in her favour.
The court, in a ruling that was delivered by Justice Chizoba Orji, rejected application the Federal Government made for the defendant who was arraigned on a three-count charge, to be remanded in prison custody pending the determination of the case against her.
Justice Orji held that she found no reason to deny the defendant bail, saying there was sufficient evidence that she is willing to face her trial.
Consequently, aside from the N50m, the court held that the defendant must produce one surety who must be a person of integrity that owns a landed property in Abuja.
The court based its decision on section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as section 163 and 165 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
The case was subsequently adjourned till September 23 for trial.
Among those listed as witnesses in the matter were the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and a former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who were cited as nominal complainants.
Other witnesses billed to testify in the case are two police officers that investigated the matter, Maya Iliya and Abdulhafiz Garba; a senator, Asuquo Ekpenyong; and one Sandra Duru.
The charge, dated May 16, came on the heels of a letter Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan wrote to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, wherein she accused police of exhibiting bias in the investigation of her petitions against the Senate President.
It will be recalled that the Federal High Court in Abuja had fixed June 27 to determine the legality or otherwise of the six-month suspension that was slammed on the defendant by the Senate.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan approached the court after she was summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee following a face-off she had with the Senate President during plenary on February 20.
While protesting the alleged arbitrary change of her seating position, she repeatedly raised a point of order to be allowed to speak, even though she had been overruled by the Senate President.
Irked by her conduct, the Senate President referred her case to the Ethics Committee.
In a television interview she granted on February 28, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that her travails in the Senate began after she rejected unwanted advances from the Senate President, Akpabio.
In an ex parte application she brought before the court, she applied for an order to declare any action the Senate Committee took within the pendency of her suit, including her suspension, as “null, void, and of no effect”.
