{"id":239406,"date":"2026-01-15T14:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/senator-natasha-reacts-as-court-strikes-out-fgs-criminal-defamation-case\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T14:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:25:11","slug":"senator-natasha-reacts-as-court-strikes-out-fgs-criminal-defamation-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/senator-natasha-reacts-as-court-strikes-out-fgs-criminal-defamation-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Natasha Reacts as Court Strikes Out FG\u2019s Criminal Defamation Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-start=\"83\" data-end=\"258\">Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has commented publicly following the Federal Government\u2019s discontinuation of the criminal defamation case brought against her.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"260\" data-end=\"471\">After a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Wednesday struck out the suit, the senator described the ruling as a validation of her position and a reaffirmation of her faith in Nigeria\u2019s legal system.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"473\" data-end=\"662\">She said the decision has reinforced her confidence in the rule of law and stressed that she remains focused on representing her constituents and defending democratic freedoms nationwide.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"664\" data-end=\"802\">Akpoti-Uduaghan also expressed gratitude to her legal team, constituents, and supporters for standing by her throughout the proceedings.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"804\" data-end=\"842\">Speaking with journalists, she said, \u201cToday\u2019s outcome affirms my belief in the rule of law. I remain committed to serving my constituents and defending the democratic rights of all Nigerians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1004\" data-end=\"1161\">The case was dismissed after the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation submitted a notice of discontinuance, effectively ending the prosecution.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1163\" data-end=\"1340\">The charges, which sparked widespread discussion on free speech and political accountability, stemmed from statements the senator allegedly made during a television interview.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1342\" data-end=\"1484\">Court records indicate that the notice of discontinuance, dated December 12, 2025, concluded proceedings in suit number FHC\/ABJ\/CR\/195\/2025.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1486\" data-end=\"1593\">Justice C. N. Oji, who presided over the matter, accepted the notice and formally struck out the charges.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has commented publicly following the Federal Government\u2019s discontinuation of the criminal defamation case brought against her. After a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Wednesday struck out the suit, the senator described the ruling as a validation of her position and a reaffirmation of her faith in Nigeria\u2019s legal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":239407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[211,233,519],"class_list":["post-239406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-court","tag-fg","tag-natasha-akpoti-uduaghan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Natasha-Akpoti-Uduaghan-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}