Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has refuted claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senatorial candidate for Kogi Central in the 2023 election, Chief (Mrs) Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, that he sponsored publications to defame the latter.
Quest Times had reported that Natasha, in a suit filed by Falana & Falana’s Chambers, sought ₦5 billion in damages from the Kogi Governor.
Recall the governor had asked security agencies to invite the Senatorial candidate following claims of terrorism in the State.
According to the lawyer, the derogatory remarks made against her by Yahaya Bello are totally false and injurious to her person in the eyes of the public.
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She also demanded an order directing Yahaya Bello to retract the statements.
Reacting, Governor Bello, in a court document dated Wednesday, November 30, which was exclusively obtained by Quest Times, denied all the allegations made by Natasha in her statement of claim adding that the court should dismiss the suit for “being baseless, incompetent, vexatious, and cannot be supported by facts or law”.
“Without prejudice to the objection of the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court and save and except as hereinafter expressly stated and admitted, the 1st (Kogi State Government) & 3rd (Mr Kingsley Fanwo) defendants deny each and every allegation of fact contained in the claimant’s statement of claim as if same were set out traversed seriatim.
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“The 1st – 3rd (Kogi State Government, Yahaya Bello & Mr Kingsley Fanwo) defendants deny paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 of the claimant’s statement of claim and shall at trial put the plaintiff to strictest proof thereof,” the court document partly read.