Akpabio: Natasha denies N200m bribery allegation

Akpabio: Natasha denies N200m bribery allegation

Suspended Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has denied claims by United States-based activist, Sandra Duru, that she offered her N200 million to frame Senate President Godswill Akpabio in a case of organ harvesting.

Reacting to a May 1, 2025, Facebook livestream in which Duru, also known as Professor Mgbeke, made the allegations, Akpoti-Uduaghan described the claims as “entirely untrue” and “manipulated to serve Sandra Duru’s ulterior motive of playing the script of Senator Godswill Akpabio.”

“I have carefully watched a livestream which was done by one Sandra C. Duru on Facebook, on May 1st, 2025,” the Senator said in a statement issued on Friday.

“The content of the live stream, including the voice effect credited to me, are entirely untrue, and most manipulated.”

She said the broadcast falsely suggested a relationship that never existed.

“To the best of my knowledge, those words used against Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Dr. Abiola, FIDA and fellow Nigerians as ‘gullible and hungry’ are crazy falsehoods and did not emanate from the natural cause of any contact involving me.”

Akpoti-Uduaghan also claimed that Duru was using a false identity.

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“It was from recent research that I also found out that the person who now represents herself as Sandra Duru is the same person who operated as Prof. Mgbeke on Facebook,” she stated.

She added that she would provide a more detailed response soon.

“In the nearest of time, I will respond to the unfounded allegations made therein,” she said.

Dr. Duru had alleged on Thursday during her livestream that Akpoti-Uduaghan offered her a bribe to fabricate accusations against the Senate President, including linking him to the 2021 murder of Iniobong Umoren.

She claimed to have submitted evidence of their alleged communication to authorities in the U.S. and international bodies for forensic analysis.

In the broadcast, Dr. Duru said the alleged conversation between her and Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan contradicts the Senator’s previous claims that the two had never interacted.

According to Dr. Duru, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan approached her with the offer after her allegations of sexual harassment against Senator Akpabio did not gain the kind of traction she wanted.

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Dr. Duru further alleged that she was urged to falsely link the Senate President to the death of a young woman, Iniobong Umoren, who was murdered in 2021.

She maintained that there is no evidence supporting claims of organ harvesting in Umoren’s case, referencing an autopsy report.

In her remarks, the activist called on Nigerian and international law enforcement agencies, as well as parliamentary organisations, to investigate the claims.

She urged them to examine Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s alleged knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Umoren’s death.

Dr. Duru further claimed that during their conversations, the Sen. Natasha had stated that the political aim of the allegations was to force the Senate President to resign and challenge what she described as “Yoruba government.”

She alleged that the Senator also made disparaging remarks about other public figures and had admitted to lacking evidence to support her allegations against Akpabio.

The Senator, however, insists that the allegations are baseless and manipulated for political purposes.

Akpabio: Natasha denies N200m bribery allegation