*Photo R-L: Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello*
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Friday instructed her legal team to file an appeal to overturn the High Court decision awarding N1 Billion to former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
“We are appealing the judgment. I don’t have 1 Billion. We will drag the matter to the Supreme Court.”
The Kogi Central Representative accused the court of ignoring the evidence presented by her legal team.
The Kogi State Government in 2022 called for the arrest of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The government in different national newspapers accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of sponsoring terrorism and orchestrating the July 2022 Kuje Prison break and the Owo Church massacre.
Reacting to the allegation of terrorism, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was out of the country when the Kuje Prison incident and the Owo Church massacre took place.
“I was never connected to Safiyu at that time.”
She recounted how Yahaya Bello prompted the security agents to arrest her.
“Yahaya Bello accused me of sponsoring terrorism because he wants me out of the ballot. He took the reports to the DSS. He was a constant visitor to DSS, telling them to arrest me. The person Yahaya Bello hangs out with is the sponsor of terrorism, not me. Safiyu was a close ally of Yahaya Bello. He was told to carry out a bad task against me. He said he wasn’t going to do it. The young man refused to mobilize people to hurt me.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan recalled the Arise Television interview.
“I shared these pictures with Arise Television presenters. I didn’t know Safiyu. Safiyu was a close associate of Yahaya Bello. If anybody should be questioned about terrorism, it should be Yahaya Bello. If anybody is guilty of terrorism, it should be Yahaya Bello. He is the one who knows how I am involved.”
She urged the former Kogi State Governor to file more defamation charges against her.
A High Court in Lokoja had earlier awarded N1billion in damages against Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan, in a defamation suit filed former Governor Bello.
The order was contained in the Certified True Copy of the judgement, dated April 23 on Friday in Lokoja.
The court held that based on the preponderance of evidence or balance of probabilities, judgment was entered in favour of the claimant.
Justice Justice A. S. Ibrahim, while delivering his judgement in the suit marked, “HCL/16/2023”, held that upon the conclusion of the suit, the two issues formulated for determination were resolved in favour of the claimant.
“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 said interview of 4/11/2022 in which the defendant described the claimant as a murderer, killer, perpetrator of evil acts, and a terror to the people of Kogi State was without justification.”
The court also gave “an order of perpetual injunction against the Defendant, [his] agents, privies or associates”, restraining them from further issuance of the defamatory statements or words against the claimant on TV or radio stations.
“The sum of one billion naira (N1,000,000,000) only (is) awarded as damages against the Defendant and in favour of the Claimant,” the court said.
Bello had sued Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan for defamation of character.
The Defendant’s Counsel, Johnson J. Usman, SAN, had, challenged the jurisdiction of the court, saying that the suit was an abuse of court process.
Bello’s Counsel, Friday Ekpa, however, countered that, saying that none of the cases before the FCT High Court was against the person of Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
After the High Court ruled that it had jurisdiction to entertain the case, Akpoti-Uduaghan appealed the ruling.
The Court of Appeal, in the appeal number, “CA/ABJ/CV/626/2024”, however, dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and affirmed that the Kogi State High Court had jurisdiction to entertain the case.