Natasha’s Trial: Ezekwesili, Yesufu, Others Storm Court—-A former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has arrived at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, at Maitama, ahead of the scheduled arraignment of the suspended Senator for Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Ezekwesili, who repeatedly rose in public defence of the embattled female lawmaker, was joined in the courtroom by other notable rights activists, including Aisha Yesufu.

Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan is billed to take her plea before trial Justice Chizoba Orji.

She entered the court premises which had been beefed up with armed security operatives, in the company of her husband and lawyers, around 10:27 am.

The court clerk had earlier informed those waiting inside the courtroom that the judge would commence sitting by 11 am.

The Federal Government is prosecuting the lawmaker over an allegation that she made a false claim that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and a former Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, were behind a plot to assassinate her.

The Federal Government, in the three-count charge marked CR/297/25, alleged that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was listed as the sole defendant, made the false and defamatory remarks when she appeared as a guest on live television.

It specifically accused the lawmaker, who is currently on a six-month suspension, of making “imputation, knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person.”

According to the charge, by making such false imputation that tarnished the image of others, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan committed an offence under 391 of the Penal Code, Cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990.

It added that the alleged offence is punishable under section 392 of the same law.

Giving particulars of the offence in count one of the charge, the federal government, told the court that the defendant committed the alleged crime on April 3, during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

The lawmaker was said to have made an allegation that some politicians opposed to her were plotting to assassinate her.

Meanwhile, among those listed as witnesses in the matter were Akpabio and Bello, who were cited as nominal complainants.

Other witnesses billed to testify in the case are two police officers who investigated the matter, Maya Iliya and Abdulhafiz Garba; a Senator, Asuquo Ekpenyong and one Sandra Duru.

The charge, dated May 16, came on the heels of a letter Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan wrote to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, wherein she accused police of exhibiting bias in the investigation of her petitions against the Senate President.

It will be recalled that the Federal High Court in Abuja had fixed June 27 to determine the legality or otherwise of the six-month suspension that was slammed on the defendant by the Senate.

Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan approached the court after she was summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee following a faceoff she had with the Senate President during plenary on February 20.

While protesting alleged arbitrary change of her seating position, she repeatedly raised a point of order to be allowed to speak, even though she had been overruled by the Senate President.

Irked by her conduct, the Senate President referred her case to the Ethics Committee.

In a television interview she granted on February 28, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that her travails in the Senate began after she rejected unwanted advances from the Senate President, Akpabio.

In an ex parte application she brought before the court, she applied for an order to declare any action the Senate Committee took within the pendency of her suit, including her suspension, as “null, void, and of no effect.”