The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has dismissed two legal motions filed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio and imposed a ₦100,000 fine against him.
The decision was delivered by a three-member panel led by Justice Hamman Barka on May 21, 2025, following Akpabio’s formal request to withdraw the appeal, in the ruling delivered on Tuesday night.
The motions, filed on March 3 and March 25, 2025, were registered under suit numbers CV/395/M1/2025 and CV/395/M2/2025. Akpabio was listed as the appellant, while the respondents included Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Nigerian Senate, and Senator Neda Imasuen, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions.
In the appeal, Akpabio sought court approval to challenge a March 10, 2025, ruling by the Federal High Court in Abuja, delivered by Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/384/2025.
He asked the Court of Appeal to extend the time he could apply for leave to appeal, grant the leave itself, and allow additional time to file his notice of appeal. Akpabio also requested a stay of proceedings in the lower court case pending the determination of his appeal.
The Court of Appeal, however, granted his request to withdraw the motions and ruled that the applications dated March 20 and March 25 be struck out. In its final judgment, the court awarded ₦100,000 in costs to the first respondent, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, and ordered that Appeal No. CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/395M/2025 be removed from the court’s records.
