Suspended Kogi Central senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has requested the Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja to dismiss a movement filed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, looking for to compel her to delete a satirical apology she posted on Fb.
The senator made her attraction by a counter-affidavit, arguing that the put up didn’t breach any current court docket order.
Mr Akpabio’s authorized group, led by Kehinde Ogunwumiju, had filed the movement on 5 Could, claiming Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s put up violated a court docket order issued by Justice Binta Nyako on 4 April, which barred each events from making public statements concerning the continuing case.
The choose had dominated that: “There shall be no press interviews by all events and counsels as regard the subject material of this go well with.
“There shall be no streaming or social media put up as regards this case. There shall be no tv evaluation of this material whereas the case is subjudice.”
Regardless of the order, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan posted a sarcastic assertion on her Fb web page on 27 April.
In it, she mocked the Senate president’s management and claimed her “crime” was sustaining dignity and self-respect.
She additionally recommended that success within the Senate below Mr Akpabio was “based mostly not on competence or benefit, however on conformity to private expectations.”
READ ALSO: Akpabio Petitions Court docket to Delete Natasha’s Mock Apology
The put up went viral, prompting Mr Akpabio’s attorneys to request the court docket to mandate its deletion from all social platforms and to compel the suspended senator to difficulty a written apology in not less than two nationwide dailies, together with an affidavit of compliance.
However in response, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s authorized counsel, Jubril Okutepa, argued that the put up was a type of protest and didn’t violate the court docket’s directive.
“That the moment movement is borne of malice and supposed to harass, intimidate, and scandalise me for exercising my constitutionally assured proper to honest listening to and to free expression,” the senator acknowledged in her affidavit.
The case, which stems from Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension from the Senate in March, has been adjourned to 12 Could.
The row between the 2 politicians started with a dispute over Senate seating preparations in February. Shortly earlier than her suspension, the Kogi senator accused Mr Akpabio of sexual harassment—an allegation he has denied.
Since then, each events have filed defamation fits in opposition to one another. Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan is demanding ₦100 billion typically damages and ₦300 million in authorized charges from Mr Akpabio and his aide, Mfon Patrick, over a put up that claimed she lacked legislative focus and cared extra about her appears to be like.
In flip, Ekaette Akpabio, the Senate president’s spouse, has filed two separate lawsuits in opposition to the senator, looking for ₦350 billion in damages for alleged reputational hurt to her husband.
In the meantime, the suspended senator continues to problem the legality of her suspension in a separate case additionally pending earlier than the court docket.
