By Mike Osumah
“One of the elementary rules I first learnt in journalism school eons ago is that opinions are free but facts are sacred.
This time-honoured principle has therefore become my guiding light whenever I want to say or write anything- be it news bulletins, ad copies, commentaries, elevated gossips, random musings, warts and all!
And for any journalist worth his salt, you know you run the risk of libel and defamation if you publish untruths because under the law you cannot be spared- your victim can always get reprieve if he or she takes recourse in the law.
Specifically, Senator Natasha, according to available information had engaged Sandra Duru, a United Kingdom (UK)-based activist, popularly known as Professor Mgbeke, and allegedly offered her the sum of N200 million to falsely accuse Akpabio of organ harvesting.
The activist made the claim during a live Facebook session and said there are recordings where the suspended senator admitted having no evidence against the senate president.
Akpoti-Uduaghan has since denied the allegation, dismissing the live stream content as “untrue and manipulated”.
It would be recalled that in 2021, 26-year-old Iniubong Umoren, a female job seeker, went missing after meeting a Twitter user for a job opportunity in Akwa Ibom.
Uduak Umoh, a friend of Iniubong, announced her death after raising concerns about her disappearance.
Subsequently, the police operatives in Akwa Ibom arrested Uduak Akpan, a suspect, who allegedly confessed to sexually and physically assaulting the late Iniubong and burying her body in a shallow grave at his father’s house.
Akpan was convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death by the Akwa Ibom high court on August 4, 2022.
Certainly, Natasha’s claims if indeed she made them, should not to be treated as just mere random musings by some crackpot who doesn’t know her left from right. No. The person making the claims and the victim are both public figures and as such owe us the responsibility of telling us the whole truth and nothing but the truth… “