Court Finds Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan Guilty of Contempt Over Facebook Post
The Federal High Court in Abuja has found Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, guilty of contempt for a satirical apology she posted on her Facebook page on April 27.
Delivering judgment, Justice Binta Nyako ruled on a contempt application brought by Senate President Godswill Akpabio in response to Akpoti-Uduaghan’s social media post, which he claimed violated a prior court order.
The order had restrained all parties involved in the ongoing legal dispute over the senator’s suspension from making public comments or social media posts relating to the case.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had filed the original suit challenging her suspension from the Senate.
Her legal team argued that the contentious Facebook post referenced a separate matter, allegations of sexual harassment involving Akpabio, and was not related to the suspension proceedings.
However, Justice Nyako disagreed, stating that after carefully reviewing the post and the motion filed by the third respondent (Akpabio), it was evident that the content was connected to the subject of the suspension.
She therefore ruled that the senator had acted in contempt of the court.
As punishment, the court directed Akpoti-Uduaghan to issue a public apology in two national newspapers and repost the apology on her Facebook page within seven days.
In addition, she was fined the sum of N5 million.
