•Akpabio’s aide under fire over botched solidarity rally

Alex Enumah in Abuja and Okon Bassey in Uyo

The senator for Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has slammed a N5 billion lawsuit against Senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi over alleged defamatory publications made against her.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, in the suit filed before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said the action of Nwaebonyi, who represented Ebonyi North Central Senatorial District, and doubled as Senate Deputy Chief Whip, had severely injured her reputation, caused her considerable distress and embarrassment to her credibility and public perception.

In the suit marked: CV/1259/25, filed on April 7, the defendant was said to have maligned the reputation of the plaintiff when he, on March 6, 2025, during a televised interview on Channels TV’s “Sunrise Daily” programme, falsely, maliciously, and without any lawful justification referred to her as a “gold digger,” a “habitual liar,” and a “habitual blackmailer.”

The Ebonyi senator had been a leading defender of Senate President Godswill Akpabio in the sexual harassment allegations made against him by Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Nwaebonyi was accused of deliberately maligning the reputation of Akpoti-Uduaghan when he accused her of having six children for different men and also claiming that the claimant’s husband, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan, married her under duress.

Akpoti-Uduaghan averred, “These statements were broadcast nationally and rebroadcast across multiple online and social media platforms, thus ensuring wide publication.”

The claimant, in the suit filed on her behalf by her lawyer, M. J. Numa (SAN), submitted that the defamatory statements contained in the YouTube link, “are false, malicious and targeted at bringing her image to disrepute”.

According to the suit , “The claimant further contends that these statements in their natural and ordinary meaning, are meant and were understood to portray the claimant:  as someone who constantly extorts people for money through dishonest and unscrupulous means as a career.

“As someone who demands money or other benefits from someone in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them. As a woman who forms relationships with men purely to obtain money or gifts from them.

“As someone who constantly tells lies and does not speak the truth on most occasions and as someone who uses the threat of damaging information to coerce others into acting in her favour.”

The claimant further averred that the defendant deliberately made the defamatory statements knowing same to be false and meant to discredit the claimant in an attempt to justify her illegal suspension by the senate and other related events.

It said, “That the defendant, who is equally a member of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions of the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, made those false and reckless statements to prejudice the mind of the public against the claimant’s petition before the senate.”

She submitted that by the actions of the defendant, her reputation had been seriously damaged and she had suffered considerable distress and embarrassment, adding that unless restrained by the court, the defendant will further publish or cause to be published the said or similar words defamatory to the claimant.

Among others, Akpoti-Uduaghan prayed for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant, his associates, agents, assignees, servants, privies, proxies, allies or anyone howsoever called from further publishing or causing to be published the words complained about or any other defamatory words concerning the claimant.

Akpoti-Uduaghan demanded, “An order of court awarding the sum of N5,000,000,000.00 only, against the defendant, being aggravated and exemplary damages in favour of the claimant for the false, malicious and injurious statements that have since caused the claimant considerable distress, reputational harm, embarrassment, and emotional distress.”

Meanwhile, a socio-cultural organisation, Ukpum Ete Unity Association (UEUA), in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State condemned alleged denigrating remarks against the group by Akpabio’s media aide, Mr. Jackson Udom.

Ukpum Ete Unity Association had planned a botched rally in solidarity with Akpabio, in the festering sexual harassment allegation made by Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The group had last week concluded plans to stage a solidarity rally in Uyo in support of the senate president, but the media aide, in a reaction, countered the move, and disowned the group and its leaders as fake.

Udom labelled the chief organiser of the rally, Ubong Idemudo, as a “controversial” person.

Rising from an emergency meeting at the weekend in Uyo, the group’s leaders including the secretary-general, Hon.  Emmanuel Ekwere, dismissed the scathing remarks by the aide against their revered statesman as “unacceptable” and called for immediate retraction and apology within seven days.

A communique at the end of the meeting, frowned on the “reckless utterance” by  Udom, stating that “such unpalatable language shouldn’t have been deployed by a trained media professional working for the number three citizen of Nigeria”.

The group stated, “We do not query the right to suspend the proposed solidarity rally, but calling our worthy son, Engr. Ubong Idemudo, ‘controversial’ is our concern.

“Ordinarily, we would have ignored it but for posterity. We rise to clarify this obvious anomaly after due deliberation at our just- ended emergency meeting.

“We state categorically that our son is not controversial. He is an engineer by profession and working in a well-recognised corporate organisation, a fact that cannot be disputed by anyone.”

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