As the Akpabio-Natasha kerfuffle deepens, the former governor of Kogi State has stirred another uproar by filing a petition to the Inspector General of Police ordering the arrest of the suspended senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
In a petition that was endorsed by Bello’s counsel, N.A. Abubakar, and submitted to the office of the Inspector General on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, Bello requested that Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan be called upon by the police for interrogation and to provide credible and tangible evidence to substantiate her claims of threats to life.
In the petition, Bello expressed that Natasha’s homecoming violated the sitting governor’s order of no welcome rally and convoy movement. Aside from that, malicious allegations were laid against his persona regarding an assassination plot of which he was unaware.
Counsel to the former governor also included in the petition that the malicious allegations of Natasha have far reaching consequences of chronic defamation, false accusation and incitement to public disorder, aside being losely hung on fallacies, recklessness and incitement.
Bello’s counsel reiterated the severity of the matters at hand adding that Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s actions and careless throw of words violated Section 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc..) Act, 2015.
“By accusing our client of plotting an assassination and naming him as a co-conspirator in a purported murder plot (with an attempt to disguise the killing as mob or ethnic violence), Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan has gravely damaged our clientโs reputation by portraying him as a violent and vengeful political actor, and misled the public and tried to incite ethnic and political distrust, especially among the clans of Ebiraland in particular and the people of Kogi Central in general.
โBrought his name into disrepute based on an allegation so weighty that, if left unchallenged, could harm his political career and personal safety; and abused her parliamentary status and platform by propagating such falsehoods without evidence, in a very public and politically charged setting,โ Abubakar expressed.
A letter detailing a retraction of the malicious statements and a public apology or risk facing legal actions was sent to Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan through another of Bello’s lawyers, R.O. Balogun.
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