The Federal High Court on Thursday, struck out the alleged cybercrime charge against the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Justice Mohammed Umar struck out the suit following the notice of discontinuance filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), who was prosecuting the case.

The development is coming just a few hours after Justice Chizoba Orji of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), struck out a similar case bordering on alleged defamation.

 In the suit at the FCT High Court, the senator was alleged to have defamed the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, her lawyers and the prosecuting team were all seated in court when the judge called the parties into the chamber where the notice of discontinuance was moved by prosecuting counsel, Aderonke Imana.

The senator’s lawyer, Ehioge West-Idahosa, SAN, did not oppose the application.

West-Idahosa, however, urged the court to release all documents belonging to the defendant and her sureties.

Akpoti-Uduaghan was arraigned on June 30, on a six-count charge bordering on cybercrimes.

She was granted bail, following which Justice Umar adjourned the matter until Sept. 22, 2025 for the commencement of trial.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, in the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/195/2025, was alleged to have transmitted false and injurious information via electronic means with the intention to malign, incite and endanger lives and breach public order.

The senator was alleged to have, while addressing a gathering on April 4 in Ihima in Kogi , accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, of instructing ex-Gov. Yahaya Bello to have her killed in the state.

She was also alleged to have, in a television interview, repeated similar claims, to the effect that the senate president and former governor plotted to kill her in Kogi.

The charge was brought under the Cybercrimes Prohibition, Prevention, etc (Amendment) Act 2024.

Reacting to the withdrawal of the two cases filed by the Federal Government against her, Akpoti-Uduaghan said that the cases were not part of those mentioned by the Senate President in church.

“I would like to mention for clarity that these cases do not form part of the cases the Senate President mentioned in church.

“As of today, he has not instructed his lawyers to discontinue several cases that he and his wife initiated.

“The withdrawal of these two federal government cases against me only proved what we had always known, which is that these cases were maliciously instigated by two individuals who used power to their advantage, to witchhunt an innocent person which is myself.

“But I would like to extend a sincere appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for standing with the truth and in his commitment to justice, ordered the discontinuance of these two cases.

“I have never doubted that Nigeria is a land of possibilities and that the truth somehow would always get one vindicated.”

She said that with the two cases off her neck, she could now rest and resume her legislative work fully.

“No matter how strong and tough one is, for a person like me that has never been invited by the police for anything and does not have any case of financial embezzlement or drug abuse to just be slammed simultaneously with two federal government cases, that was a whole lot.

“But they say whatever does not break you makes you stronger. I will say that I was actually toughened.

“It is not something I would want to experience, and I would not wish it for anybody.

“At the end of the day, justice prevailed,” she said.

From Ifeanyichukwu Nwannah, Gusau

A concerned citizen of Zamfara State, Aminu Muhammad has deeply expressed concern over the way Zamfara State government has been attacking the minister of State for Defense, Hon. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, saying that the State Government has chosen to focus its attention on attacking the image and integrity of the Minister.

According to him, rather than giving more emphasis on fulfilling their campaign promises, they were busy finding faults to crucify Bello Mohammed Matawalle while they had unfinished works.

“First and foremost I want to make a loud and clear call on Sulaiman Bala Idris, the spokesperson to the Governor of Zamfara State, to immediately come out and tender an apology to the Hon.

Minister for the false and defamatory allegation he initially made, claiming that Matawalle was responsible for the arrest of Saleem Abubakar, a technical Assistant to Governor Dauda Lawal”, he added.

 “This allegation was later disproved, and the Hon Minister was vindicated when the Nigerian Police clarified that they were responsible for the arrest and clearly stated the reasons behind the arrest”

“For clarity, Saleem Abubakar, whose arrest the Zamfara State Government falsely linked to Bello Matawalle by claiming that he used the office of the National Security Adviser to harass opposition and other baseless and malicious allegations they made against the Minister”

“The arrest of Saleem Abubakar was later confirmed by the Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, who announced that: “A petition was received against Salim Abubakar at the Central Police Station, Abuja, on 19 December 2025. Salim ignored several police invitations. He was thereafter arrested, investigated, and arraigned today, 8th January 2026”

The court adjourned till 13th January 2026 and ordered his remand till the adjournment date”

“He was not detained at the Abattoir. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police FCT, PoliceNG, CP Miller Dantawaye is already looking into the matter.

Rest assured that this matter will be handled properly. Further updates will follow”

“Definitely, it is truly astonishing how the Zamfara State Government appears to be constantly living in fear and panic over the Honourable Minister Matawalle”

“This fear is the reason why they resort to malice, lies, and false accusations, which, in the end, their evil schemes always come back to haunt them. As the Hausa proverb: “The truthful person is always with God,” and “Evil is a messenger that always returns to its sender”

In a nutshell, the Zamfara State government must know that, in his statement, the Nigeria Police Public Relations Officer explained that a petition was submitted against Saleem Abubakar at the Abuja Central Police Station, based on certain allegations made against him”

“The police repeatedly sent invitations to Saleem Abubakar to report to their office, but he refused to honour those invitations. As a result, the police had no option but to arrest him and arraign him in court on Thursday, January 8, 2026, after conducting an investigation”

“The court subsequently ordered that he be remanded in custody after hearing the case against him until 13th January 2026”

“Therefore, anyone who truly wants to know who petitioned against Saleem Abubakar, the Technical Assistant to the Governor of Zamfara State, should go to the court to seek the truth. As there is nothing wrong with seeking justice through lawful means, rather than listening to fabricated stories spread by liars, slanderers, and conspirators who are bent on maligning an innocent servant of God and a man of integrity”

“These people have neither peace nor rest as they persist in their attempts to destroy Matawalle’s reputation, yet Almighty God continues to protect him from their evil plots”

“It is only right and proper that the spokesperson to the Governor of Zamfara State, Sulaiman Bala Idris, come out openly to seek an apology and forgiveness from the Hon. Minister, for attempting to drag his name into an issue that he neither instigated nor had any knowledge of whatsoever.”

The Federal Government on Sunday inaugurated the N40 billion Close Circuit Television Camera (CCTV) Centre of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.

The CCTV centre was built by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

Inaugurating the centre, the Minister of Works, Sen.

Dave Umahi, said that the current administration met a ‘very terrible Third Mainland Bridge’.

‎”When we came on board in 2023, we met a very terrible Third Mainland Bridge, Carter Bridge and Iddo Bridge both on the pavement, surface, infrastructure above the water and even infrastructure below the water.

‎”The president, therefore, directed total re-evaluation and rehabilitation of the surfaces of the Third Mainland Bridge and changing the expansion joints.

‎”Lagosians were very happy with the President for that beautiful work, and that work completed and commissioned is still succeeding because of the quality,” he said.

He said the ministry would be handing over a boat and two Hilux vans, which were part of the contract, to the police for monitoring of the bridge.

“If they need to incorporate other security agencies, they can do that, but the idea of this project is that we have a lay-by on the bridge, so we view everything going on this bridge.”

Umahi expressed worry at speeding by motorists on the bridge, urging adherence to traffic rules and regulations.

Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Olufemi Dare, said that the centre was the first of its kind in Nigeria.

‎”I doubt if there is any bridge in Nigeria that has what we have deployed here today, where you have CCTV to monitor both the underwater and even the bridge itself.

”We have a boat that has been bought for surveillance of the bridge. There are two Hilux vans, too.

”We have 240 solar panels in this environment, and that is not enough.  The whole place is fully air-conditioned. We have 10 inverters inside the building.

‎”We have the power units. We have a transformer, a 300KVA transformer. We have a standby generating plant and monitoring screens,” he said.

He expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for the provision and   thanked Umahi for ensuring that due process was followed in establishing the centre.

‎”We have about 1268 solar street lights that are part of this contract,” he said.

He added that a bore was part of the project.

Dare said that the project’s contract sum was 40.17 billion.

He said that the Federal Government had paid N36 billion to the contractor handling the project.

“This is the first level of commissioning. We are still going to come back here to do even for the extension of the bridge which is about to be completed.

‎”We pray that very sooner than later, we will come back to do a full-blown commissioning.”