Not Backing Down: Senator Natasha Takes Fight With Akpabio to the Supreme Court

By: Abudu Olalekan

The gloves are off. Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a counter-affidavit at the Supreme Court, challenging an appeal by Senate President Godswill Akpabio in a major legal showdown.

The political drama just hit a new level. It’s a legal war, plain and simple. Kogi Central’s firebrand Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, is not having any of it. She’s just taken her battle with the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, straight to the top—the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

This isn’t a new fight. But this move? It’s a big one.

Court documents seen by Reportersroom in Abuja show that Natasha’s camp has filed a counter-affidavit. In plain English? She’s officially asking the highest court in the land to shut down an appeal filed by Akpabio. To toss it out. Completely.

Her team is calling Akpabio’s move, which was dated January 21, 2026, a total abuse of the court process. They’re arguing it has no real merit. No prima facie good cause, as the lawyers would say.

Here’s the story. This whole thing was supposedly almost over at the Court of Appeal. That court had already heard the main appeal way back on November 28, 2025. Everyone had said their piece, the judges had listened, and the case was reserved for judgment. All everyone was waiting for was the final word.

Then, suddenly, Akpabio’s team runs to the Supreme Court.

Natasha’s side is basically saying, ‘Hold on a minute’. They argue that this is a blatant attempt to interfere with a process that’s already at the finish line. A Hail Mary pass to stop the Court of Appeal from delivering its judgment. They insist Akpabio had all the time and opportunity in the world to make his case at the lower court. He got a fair shake.

But the real kicker, the part that makes this a bit of a legal soap opera, comes down to rules. Simple rules.

Apparently, the Court of Appeal Rules of 2021 are very clear: your legal argument, your brief, can’t be more than 35 pages long. Thirty-five. That’s it. According to the documents, Senator Natasha’s legal team followed the rule. The Clerk of the National Assembly’s team followed the rule. But the Senate President’s team? They filed a brief that was way, way over the page limit.

And they allegedly never bothered to fix it in the time they were allowed. So, the Court of Appeal, sticking to its guns, reportedly refused to even look at the oversized document. They just moved on with the legally-sized papers they had. It’s a procedural knockout, if you ask some observers.

Beyond the page-count drama, there are other heavy legal arguments. Natasha’s counter-affidavit claims that Akpabio’s reasons for appealing are a mix of law and fact. In Nigeria’s legal system, you can’t just do that without getting the court’s permission first. You have to ask for leave. Her team says no such leave was ever asked for, or given. Which, in their eyes, makes the entire appeal incompetent from the get-go. Dead on arrival.

As for Akpabio’s complaints about not getting a fair hearing or a proper adjournment, Natasha’s filing waves it all away. It argues that deciding on adjournments is up to the court’s discretion, and the Court of Appeal acted properly. No one’s rights were trampled on.

So now, the ball is in the Supreme Court’s court. They have to decide on what is essentially a legal traffic jam. Do they listen to Akpabio, or do they agree with Natasha that this is all just a big stall tactic? Legal eagles are watching closely. This case is about to test some serious questions about court rules, power, and when a fight is truly over.