Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the federal government’s application seeking a bench warrant for the arrest of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, Senator representing Kogi Central, in the ongoing defamation case.
In a suit marked CR/297/25 and filed before a federal capital territory (FCT) high court on May 16, federal government accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of “making imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person.”
The suit followed petitions submitted to Inspector-General of Police (IGP) by Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
Although the matter came up for hearing on Monday, Akpoti-Uduaghan was absent from court.
Prosecution counsel David Kasue told the court that the charge had been served to the senator’s legal representative and urged the court to issue a bench warrant, arguing that her absence indicated deliberate disregard for the proceedings.
He said, “ It was this morning that we were able to serve the defendant through her counsel, but the defendant is not in court.”
“So, it means the defendant is aware of this matter but decided not to appear in court. In the light of this, I apply that a bench warrant be issued against her for failure to attend court to take her plea in this criminal charge.”
In response, Jacob Usman, counsel to the senator, opposed the request. He explained that he had only just received the charge in court at 9:15 a.m. and that his client had not yet seen the document, making her absence unintentional and justifiable.
He said, “ I was served the charge at 9:15 this morning here in court, so how will the defendant know that the matter is coming up when she has not seen the charge?”
“I find the application strange and it should be dishonoured, if the defendant has not been served, she cannot be in court.”
Judge Musa Umar intervened to clarify whether the charge had been formally served to the defendant. Upon confirmation from the prosecutor that it had not, Umar ruled that issuing an arrest warrant without proper service of the charge would be inappropriate.
The judge therefore refused the prosecution’s request for a bench warrant. However, he granted a separate request for substituted service through Akpoti-Uduaghan’s legal counsel.
The case was adjourned to June 30 for arraignment.
