By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, suspended senator representing Kogi Central, has filed a N5 billion defamation lawsuit against fellow senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi over claims that she bore six children for different men.
In the suit filed by her legal team led by M. J. Numa, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Akpoti-Uduaghan described Nwaebonyi’s allegation as false and a calculated attempt to damage her reputation.
She informed the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that Senator Nwaebonyi, who represents Ebonyi North Central Senatorial District, had severely damaged her reputation, causing her significant emotional distress and subjecting her to public embarrassment and harm to her credibility.
Akpoti-Uduaghan told the court that the defendant, who also serves as the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, made false and malicious statements about her during a televised interview on Channels TV’s “Sunrise Daily” programme on March 6, 2025, where he described her as a “gold digger,” a “habitual liar,” and a “habitual blackmailer,” without any lawful justification.
She told the court that in addition to the claim about her having six children with different men, Senator Nwaebonyi also alleged that her husband, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan, married her under duress.
“The claimant further asserts that these statements, in their natural and ordinary meaning, were intended and understood to depict her as someone who extorts money through dishonest and unscrupulous means as a profession.
“As someone who demands money or other benefits from individuals in exchange for withholding compromising or damaging information. As a woman who engages in relationships with men solely to obtain money or gifts from them.
“As someone who constantly lies and is dishonest on most occasions, and as someone who uses threats of revealing damaging information to manipulate others into acting in her favor.”
The claimant told the court that the defendant intentionally made these defamatory statements, fully aware of their falsity, with the aim of discrediting her and justifying her illegal suspension by the Senate.
She further stated that the defendant, a member of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions of the 10th Senate, made these false and reckless remarks to influence public opinion against her ongoing petition before the Senate.
As a result, Akpoti-Uduaghan, currently serving a six-month suspension, among other requests, sought a court order for a perpetual injunction, restraining the defendant, his associates, agents, and others from further publishing or causing the publication of the defamatory statements or any other damaging words about her.
In the suit, marked CV/1259/25, she also sought an order compelling the defendant to retract the defamatory statements on the same platforms used to disseminate them, as well as to issue an unreserved apology in at least two national newspapers, both electronically and in print, within seven days of the judgment.
She further requested the court to award the sum of N5 billion as aggravated and exemplary damages for the false, malicious, and harmful statements, which have caused her considerable distress, reputational harm, embarrassment, and emotional pain.”
As well as: “An order of this Honourable Court awarding post-judgment interest on the judgment sum awarded to the Claimant at the rate of 10% per annum from the date of delivery of the judgment until the judgment debt is fully liquidated.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan asserted that the defendant’s characterization of her as a mother of six children by different men was unfounded, malicious, and reckless.
“The claimant serves as an inspiration to women in politics and those aspiring to enter politics by speaking truth to power,” she said.
She emphasized that, contrary to the false allegations, the claimant is not hindering women’s chances in politics, but rather empowering them to be bold in their pursuit of political leadership and good governance.
No date has been set for the hearing of the case.