Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has denied claims linking her to acts of terrorism and violence, saying the accusations were made to block her political ambition.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that the lawmaker, who represents Kogi Central in the National Assembly under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), spoke during a live session on her Facebook page where she addressed claims linking her to violent incidents in 2022, including the Owo massacre and the Kuje prison break.
She explained that both incidents occurred while she was not in Nigeria. According to her, she was in the United States during that period and had just given birth. She provided a timeline showing that the events occurred in June and July 2022, while she was outside the country.
Akpoti-Uduaghan also spoke about her health at the time, saying her pregnancy was considered high risk due to her age. She said she had been admitted to the hospital for about a month before delivery and was not moving around because of the condition.
She added that she eventually gave birth in July, shortly after one of the attacks took place, and insisted that it would have been impossible for her to be involved in any violent activity under such circumstances.
The senator maintained that the claims were false and driven by politics. She said the accusation of sponsoring terrorism was used as a tool to push her out of the election race.
She also repeated her earlier criticism of former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello, saying he had close dealings with security authorities during his time in office.
She said, “Owo massacre and Kuje prison break, one of them was on the 5th of June 2022, the other one happened on the 5th of July 2022. These two days I was out of the country. I was in the United States. I had my baby.
“In short, my pregnancy, I was 43 years old, so it was what they call high risk. So I was on admission a month before having the baby. I wasn’t even moving around because it was a very difficult pregnancy.
“As a matter of fact, I was actually labouring at the farm. I was even working to the stand, and I was hiding the labour pain. I was on such forced labour because of the stress from the election. I had my baby a week after the Owo massacre. The Owo massacre was on the 5th of July. My baby, I had him on the 12th of July.
“This man just accused me innocently of sponsoring terrorism, just because they wanted me out of the ballot at all costs.”