{"id":3283,"date":"2026-04-27T14:21:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3283"},"modified":"2026-04-27T14:21:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:21:31","slug":"natasha-rejects-%e2%82%a61bn-judgment-heads-to-appeal-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3283","title":{"rendered":"Natasha rejects \u20a61bn judgment, heads to Appeal Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has rejected a \u20a61 billion damages award against her in a defamation suit filed by former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Adoza Bello, citing her right to defend herself against terrorism allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Kogi State High Court in Lokoja ruled that Akpoti-Uduaghan\u2019s comments on Arise Television\u2019s \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d on November 4, 2022, were defamatory, awarding \u20a61 billion in damages to Bello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yemi Alade - Tomorrow (Official Music Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G4u2yMsPdG8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The judgment, delivered by Justice A. S. Ibrahim in suit number HCL\/16\/2023, arose from comments made by the senator during a live appearance on The Morning Show on Arise Television on November 4, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the broadcast, Akpoti-Uduaghan made allegations against Bello which the court subsequently ruled to be defamatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his decision, Justice Ibrahim held that the statements made by the defendant were injurious to the claimant\u2019s character and reputation and were not justified by the evidence presented before the court. He noted that the issues formulated for determination in the suit were resolved in favour of the claimant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe interview granted by the defendant on 4\/11\/2022 on Arise TV programme \u2018The Morning Show\u2019 is defamatory to the claimant\u2019s character and reputation,\u201d the judge ruled. \u201cThe said interview\u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court equally granted a perpetual injunction restraining the senator, her agents, privies, and associates from making further defamatory statements against Bello across television, radio, and other media platforms. Additionally, the court awarded \u20a61,000,000,000 as general damages in favour of the former governor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While reacting to the judgement, in a statement by her Media Office, in Abuja, on Saturday, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan said, \u201cI reject this judgment in its entirety. We presented substantial and credible evidence before the court, which, in our view, clearly justified our position. Unfortunately, these were not given due consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also explained that her comments on Arise Television\u2019s \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d were a response to Bello\u2019s accusations, adding \u201cIf there is anybody to be accused of terrorism, it should be Yahaya Bello and not me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy comments were rooted in the experiences of our people and the need to speak truth to power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan insisted that the court failed to properly evaluate her evidence, saying her statements were made in the public interest and not out of malice. \u201cWe presented substantial and credible evidence\u2026 which were not given due consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She further stated that, \u201cMy statements were based on information available at the time and were made in good faith, in the interest of accountability to the people of Kogi State,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI firmly believe that the truth was not adequately reflected in the court\u2019s findings. We are heading to the Court of Appeal. This is not the end of the matter. We will pursue all lawful avenues to ensure that justice is served,\u201d she added. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/2026\/04\/natasha-rejects-%E2%82%A61bn-judgment-heads-to-appeal-court\/#google_vignette\">(Vanguard)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has rejected a \u20a61 billion damages award against her in a defamation suit filed by former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Adoza Bello, citing her right to defend herself against terrorism allegations. The Kogi State High Court in Lokoja ruled that Akpoti-Uduaghan\u2019s comments on Arise Television\u2019s \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d on November 4, 2022, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[2260,3425,3426,1022,3427,497,3424],"class_list":["post-3283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-court-of-appeal","tag-defamation","tag-justice-a-s-ibrahim","tag-kogi-state","tag-kogi-state-high-court","tag-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan","tag-yahaya-adoza-bello"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Natasha rejects \u20a61bn judgment, heads to Appeal Court - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has rejected a \u20a61 billion damages award against her in a defamation suit filed by former\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3283\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Natasha rejects \u20a61bn judgment, heads to Appeal Court - Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has rejected a \u20a61 billion damages award against her in a defamation suit filed by former\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3283\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T14:21:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T14:21:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Natasha-Akpoti-Uduaghan.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"517\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3283#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3283\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\"},\"headline\":\"Natasha rejects \u20a61bn judgment, heads to Appeal Court\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-27T14:21:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-27T14:21:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3283\"},\"wordCount\":506,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3283#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Natasha-Akpoti-Uduaghan.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Court of Appeal\",\"defamation\",\"Justice A. 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