The industrial action by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has stalled the court proceedings involving suspended Kogi Central senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
She was expected to appear in court on Tuesday, but the hearing was disrupted due to the JUSUN strike which began on Monday.
Her lead counsel, West Idahosa (SAN), confirmed the delay. He had earlier expressed doubts about the federal government’s readiness to arraign the senator as planned. Nonetheless, he affirmed that Akpoti-Uduaghan, as a law-abiding citizen, would comply with all court directives.
The federal government, through the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mohammed Abubakar, filed criminal charges against the senator, accusing her of making defamatory statements during a live TV broadcast and a private phone call.
The charges, filed on May 16, 2025, at the Federal Capital Territory High Court and marked CR/297/25, allege that during an appearance on Channels TV’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025, Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello plotted to assassinate her.
“It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night— to eliminate me… he then emphasised that I should be killed in Kogi,” the charge quotes her as saying.
She is also alleged to have told Dr Sandra Duru in a phone conversation that Akpabio was involved in organ harvesting related to the late Iniubong Umoren, supposedly for his sick wife’s benefit.
Akpabio, Bello, and four others have been named as key witnesses in the trial.
