On Monday, Justice Musa Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the Federal Government's attempt to arrest Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for failing to attend the start of her defamation trial. The government is pursuing Akpoti-Uduaghan on behalf of Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
During the day's proceedings, the prosecution attorney, David Kaswe, informed the court that the matter was for arraignment, but the defendant was not present.
Kaswe told the court that he served the charge to the defendant's counsel, implying that the defendant was well aware of the situation. The prosecutor asked the court to issue a bench warrant against the defendant for not showing up for court, even though she was aware of the charge against her.
“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,” Kaswe said.
Jacob Usman (SAN), Akpoti-Uduaghan's attorney, told the court that he thought the prosecution's submission was odd and impolite, adding that he called the prosecutor to inform him that his client had requested that he accept the charge on her behalf when he learned that the litigation was still pending.
“I was served the charge at 9:15 am 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,” he said.
He prayed the court to discountenance the application as it was made in bad taste.
When Justice Musa Umar, the trial judge, questioned the prosecution if he had served the defendant with the charge, he replied that he had not.
Therefore, Justice Umar stated that it was not conceivable to approve the prosecutor's application and issue a bench warrant for the defendant's arrest before she had been served.
Instead of granting the bench warrant application, he approved the prosecutor's seemingly last-minute request for substituted service through her attorney.
The judge postponed the arraignment until June 30, 2025.
Akpoti-Uduaghan's alleged defamatory remarks during a live television broadcast on April 3, 2025, were not unrelated to the dispute.
She allegedly discussed a plot to kill her and made disparaging remarks about Bello and Akpabio.