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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The feud between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello has taken a dramatic turn, with the senator flatly rejecting a ₦1 billion defamation judgment and vowing to fight back at the Court of Appeal.
The High Court sitting in Lokoja had on Friday, 24 April 2026 ruled that remarks made by the senator during an interview in November 2022 were defamatory and unjustified. The court held that her statements where she allegedly accused Bello of grave misconduct seriously damaged his reputation.
Justice A.S. Ibrahim, who delivered the judgment in suit number HCL/16/2023 did not mince words. He concluded that the claims were not backed by sufficient evidence and granted Bello a sweeping victory awarding ₦1 billion in damages and issuing a perpetual injunction barring the senator from making further such statements.
But Akpoti-Uduaghan is not backing down. Speaking during an interview shortly after the ruling, she dismissed the judgment entirely, insisting the court failed to properly weigh the evidence she presented. According to her, the statements in question were made in good faith and in the public interest not out of malice or political vendetta.
“I reject the judgment in its entirety,” she said bluntly, maintaining that her comments were based on information available at the time and aimed at holding power to account.
Her legal team has now moved to challenge the decision, setting the stage for what could become a landmark appellate battle over free speech, political accountability, and defamation laws in Nigeria.
The clash between both figures did not start in court it has been brewing for years.