The suspended Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on Friday, countered a United States-based activist, Dr Sandra Duru, who alleged a plot to frame Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The lawmaker, in a statement issued by her media aide, Israel Arogbonlo, said all the recorded conversations played in Duru’s live stream were manipulated.
– The Allegations
Duru, popularly known as Prof. Mgbeke, in a Facebook live broadcast that lasted one hour and eight minutes, accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of offering her N200m to fabricate allegations against Akpabio.
She also accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of recruiting prominent Nigerians and human rights groups to malign the Senate President.
Duru alleged that the suspended lawmaker contacted her after her sexual harassment petition against Akpabio failed to gain traction.
She said, “She told me bluntly that the sexual harassment allegation was not flying. She said she needed another strategy. Then she asked me to help draft petitions to the UK parliament and the United Nations.
“She offered me N200m and later offered to pay in dollars. I said no. She said some politicians were behind the plot and promised she would be rewarded with a ministerial position or made governor of Kogi if she succeeded.
“She (Akpoti-Uduaghan) wanted me to contact some agencies in the UK and lie against the Senate President of Nigeria that the man killed someone.
“Natasha told me bluntly that there was nothing like sexual harassment, and I was shocked. She said it didn’t happen, that she didn’t have the evidence.
“At that point, I withdrew, and I told her I couldn’t do it.
“I told her to send me whatever evidence she had against the Senate President, so I could vet it and advise her on how to fight the cause, but she disappeared.
“Natasha said this is a politically motivated and sponsored attack against what she called the Yoruba government. She said it had nothing to do with Akpabio, that what her political leaders sent her to do was to ensure that the Yoruba government does not go eight years.
“She said if she gets it done, they will make her the governor of Kogi State or, if that does not work, the minister of petroleum resources,” she said.
Duru added, “She (Akpoti-Uduaghan) said since the sexual harassment allegation was not flying, she came to me with another proposal to help her write to some agencies to come out in the media, alleging that the senator she was fighting is involved in organ harvesting.
“She said that the senator murdered a young woman called Umoren and took the girl’s kidney for his wife. She said if I brought up that allegation, Nigerians would believe it.
“She said all she wanted was for the Senate President to step down, that the Senate President is the one shielding Nigeria’s President.
“She gave me the names of the agencies she wanted me to write to in the United Kingdom Parliament. Natasha alleged that the Senate President of Nigeria murdered someone. Natasha made me understand that she wanted the organ harvesting case to take precedence over the sexual harassment.
“I asked her for evidence or an autopsy report to prove the case, but she failed to send the evidence after repeatedly promising to do so.”
The activist claimed to have handed over WhatsApp chats, phone logs, and audio recordings to US authorities, the Nigeria Police Force, and other relevant bodies for forensic analysis.
Akpoti-Uduaghan Denies Allegations
But the suspended senator, in a statement, denied the allegations.
She said, “I have carefully watched a live stream which was done by one Sandra C. Duru on Facebook on May 1, 2025. The content of the live stream, including the voice effect credited to me, is entirely untrue and most manipulated to serve Sandra Duru’s ulterior motive of playing the script of Senator Godswill Akpabio.
“To the best of my knowledge, those words used against Dr Oby Ezekwesili, Dr Abiola, FIDA and fellow Nigerians as ‘gullible and hungry’ are crazy falsehoods and did not emanate from the natural cause of any contact involving me.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan promised to respond to the unfounded allegations made therein “in the nearest of time.”
Ezekwesili, FIDA Reject Claims
A former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, who was also mentioned in the Facebook live chat, faulted claims by Duru.
When contacted by Saturday PUNCH, she described the allegations as “nonsense.”
“I don’t have a response; zero response. I don’t respond to nonsense,” she stated.
The Country Vice-President for FIDA Nigeria, Eliana Martins, said the organisation did not collect any money from Akpoti-Uduaghan.
She said, “Of course, we are interested in due process. FIDA came out to issue a statement indicating clearly that there was a need for due process in this matter.
“Even if the issue of sexual harassment has to be proved, it has to be proved. How do we know whether it is true or not? It is through proof. We are interested in a transparent process being set in place to ensure both parties are listened to. That was why FIDA was involved in that process.
She added, “Let nobody be shut down. If there are weighty allegations, it is in the interest of Nigerian women and in the interest of the Senate itself that we look into those allegations and listen to both sides and that an impartial umpire is put in place to address the issue. That was FIDA’s part in the matter. Nothing else.
“Can we hear both sides and observe that the process is indeed transparent? We did not collect any money from anybody or collude with anyone to defame anyone.”
Meanwhile, a Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, described the allegations as a plot to destabilise President Tinubu’s administration through ethnic profiling and political sabotage.
The group said it was alarmed by the allegations raised by Duru and accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of attempting to discredit the Tinubu-led administration.
The organisation warned that Nigeria’s unity must not be undermined by what it described as “petty ambition disguised as activism.”
It said, “No one should hold the country to ransom by inventing tribal conspiracies or promoting divisive narratives. Nigeria is not a personal or tribal empire. Our nation will not bow to tribal blackmail,” it stated.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended on March 6, 2025, following a disagreement with the leadership of the Senate over seating arrangements, which she claimed was a move to undermine her.
Tension intensified when the Kogi lawmaker accused Akpabio of punishing her for rejecting his sexual advances.
She alleged that the sexual harassment began in 2023 when she visited Akpabio’s country home with her husband.
The embattled senator, belonging to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, submitted a petition to the Senate, alleging that she was harassed by Akpabio — an allegation the Senate President denied.
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