Oby Ezekwesili
Oby Ezekwesili, former minister of education, has called on President Bola Tinubu to direct Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), to withdraw the criminal charges filed against Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi central.
The federal government had instituted a suit against Akpoti-Uduaghan, over alleged defamatory remarks made on live television.
The suit marked CR/297/25 and filed before a federal capital territory high court on May 16, 2025, has Akpoti-Uduaghan as the sole defendant.
The government accused the senator of “making imputation, knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person”, citing section 391 of the Penal Code, cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990. The offence is punishable under section 392 of the same law.
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In a tweet on Saturday, Ezekwesili said the criminal charges filed against Akpoti-Uduaghan are an “act of gross irresponsibility, illegality, and irrationality”.
She accused Tinubu’s administration of trying to collude with Akpabio to silence and repress the senator, for political gain.
“Specifically instruct the Attorney General to on the 3rd of June, withdraw that wrongheaded, frivolous and dangerous criminal charges against a woman crying out for fair hearing on her sexual harassment case. Your government must stop making a mockery of our democracy in the eyes of the world,” Ezekwesili said.
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“Instruct the Police IG whom you supervise as C-in-C to immediately investigate all the 12 petitions filed by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan over the last 3 months on fears for her life. After due investigations, the Police must move immediately to impartially take the next appropriate actions.
“Instruct the IG of Police to immediately reinstate Senator Natasha Akpoti‘s security personnel which the Senate President ordered withdrawn in a petty act of retaliation, intimidation, and gross abuse of power against Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for daring to allege that he sexually harassed her.”
