Court orders substituted service against Nwaebonyi in Natasha Akpoti’s N5bn ‘defamation’ suit

A high court of the federal capital territory has granted an order of substituted service against Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, senator representing Ebonyi north.

Angela Otaluka, the presiding judge, granted the order following a motion ex parte filed by Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi Central, seeking to serve court documents on the Ebonyi lawmaker via substituted means.

Moving the ex parte motion on Wednesday, Yahuza Zakari, counsel to Akpoti-Uduaghan, told the court that they seek to serve notice on Nwaebonyi by publishing in a national newspaper or through the clerk of the national assembly or senate.

“There is need to serve the originating processes and any other incidental process via substituted means in order to bring this matter to the defendant’s attention, owing to the impractical nature of serving the defendant personally,” the application stated.

“That service of the processes by publication in a widely circulated national daily newspaper in Nigeria, or through the clerk of the national assembly or the clerk of the senate, will bring the suit to the attention of the defendant.

“This honourable court has the inherent jurisdiction to grant an order for substituted service with or without an attempt to personally serve, depending on the circumstances. It will be in the interest of justice for service to be effected through substitute means.”

The judge ruled that the Ebonyi senator should be served via newspaper publication.

In the suit marked CV/1359/2025 filed in April, the Kogi senator asked the court to declare that the statements made by Nwaebonyi during an interview on Channels Television on March 6, 2025, are “false and malicious”.

Akpoti-Uduaghan said the Ebonyi senator labelled her a “gold digger, habitual liar, and habitual blackmailer” during the interview.

The Kogi senator asked the court to rule that the comments claiming that she is “a mother of six from different men” is “false, malicious, and defamatory”.

She said Nwaebonyi’s statements had caused significant harm to her reputation and public embarrassment.

Akpoti-Uduaghan prayed the court to restrain Nwaebonyi from making any further “malicious” comments against her.

She asked the court to rule that Nwaebonyi pays the sum of N5 billion as “aggravated and exemplary damages in favour of the claimant for the false, malicious and injurious statement”.