Whistleblower Vanishes After Exposing ₦2.5M Smear Plot Against Senator Natasha
The family of Obinna Oparaku Akuwudike, a whistleblower and media activist, has raised serious concern over his prolonged detention and disappearance, three weeks after he was arrested by the Nigeria Police Force on alleged orders from the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
A distressing video obtained by the media on Friday features Akuwudike’s wife recounting the emotional and psychological toll of her husband’s sudden disappearance.
“I have not heard from him since they came and took him away. I don’t know his condition. His children cry daily. His father is sick and asking for him. We’re begging the Commissioner of Police in Imo State to bring him back,” she said, visibly shaken.
Akuwudike, a journalist based in Owerri, Imo State, was arrested shortly after granting a widely viewed interview on YouTube with journalist Adeola Fayehun. In the interview, Akuwudike admitted to receiving ₦2.5 million from Sandra Duru—popularly known as “Prof Mgbeke”—to create defamatory content against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
He alleged that Duru was acting under the instructions and financial backing of Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
“At first, I was just doing video jobs. But I started seeing contradictions in her stories. I backed out when I realised it was a planned character assassination,” Akuwudike said in the interview.
His lawyer confirmed the arrest, saying it took place in the early hours in Owerri. Sources close to the case suggest the arrest was directly linked to the content of that interview.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has filed criminal defamation charges against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over her claims during a Channels TV interview that Senate President Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello plotted to assassinate her.
The Federal Government, acting as complainant, charged Natasha under Sections 391 and 392 of the Penal Code at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Akpabio and Bello are listed as nominal complainants and part of the six witnesses for the prosecution.
“I stand by what I said—that there was a meeting and a plan to eliminate me,” Natasha maintained during her appearance on Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
