A High Court in Lokoja has awarded ₦1 billion in damages against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan in a defamation suit filed by former Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello.
The judgement, delivered on April 23 by Justice A. S. Ibrahim in suit number HCL/16/2023, ruled in favour of Bello after finding that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s televised remarks were defamatory.
“The interview granted by the defendant on 4/11/2022 on Arise TV programme of ‘The Morning Show’ is defamatory to the claimant’s character and reputation,” the court stated.
Justice Ibrahim explained that the defendant’s remarks describing Bello as “a murderer, killer, perpetrator of evil acts, and a terror to the people of Kogi State” were made “without justification.”
The court issued “an order of perpetual injunction against the Defendant, [her] agents, privies or associates,” restraining them from repeating such statements on television or radio.
It further ordered: “The sum of one billion naira (₦1,000,000,000) only (is) awarded as damages against the Defendant and in favour of the Claimant.”
Bello’s counsel, Friday Ekpa, argued that the case was properly before the Lokoja High Court. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s counsel, Johnson J. Usman, SAN, had challenged jurisdiction, calling the suit an abuse of process.
The court ruled it had jurisdiction. Akpoti-Uduaghan appealed, but the Court of Appeal, in case number CA/ABJ/CV/626/2024, dismissed the appeal as lacking merit. It affirmed that the Kogi High Court could hear the matter.
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