Natasha Akpoti Biography: Early Life, Career, Awards, Controversy, Husband, Children & Net Worth
Natasha Akpoti (born December 9, 1979) is a Nigerian politician and lawyer who has been a member of the 10th Nigeria National Assembly since 2023, representing the Kogi Central Senatorial District. She is the first female senator elected in Kogi State, representing the People’s Democratic Party.
Akpoti, born to a Nigerian father and a Ukrainian mother, attended the University of Abuja. She launched the Builders Hub Impact Investment Program (BHIIP) before entering politics and running for senate in the 2019 Kogi State governorship election as a Social Democratic Party candidate. Jewel Taylor, Liberia’s former vice president, awarded Akpoti the African Women Leadership Award.
Following her efforts for the restoration of the Ajaokuta Steel Mill, she got the Nigerian Society of Engineers’ presidential award in December 2017. She was elected senator by the People’s Democratic Party in 2023.
Natasha Akpoti Biography
Natasha Hadiza Akpoti was born on December 9, 1979, in Ilorin, Kwara state. She is the second child of Jimoh Abdul Akpoti, a Nigerian politician from Kogi State, and Ludmila Kravchenk Rakitna, who is originally from Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
Her parents first met in the Soviet Union, while Jimoh was studying medicine at Bogomolets National Medical University. She grew up in Ihima, Okehi.
Akpoti had her primary education at Christ the King School in Okene, Kogi State. And a brief secondary schooling at the Government Girls Unity Secondary School in Oboroke, Kogi.
She pursued her education at Federal Government College, Idoani, Ondo State, where she graduated in 1997. Akpoti and her family migrated to Abuja following her father’s death on November 3, 1998. She later enrolled in the University of Abuja, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in law from 2000 to 2004. She married at 19 and had a son named Daniel.
After graduating from the Nigerian Law School in Bwari, Abuja, Akpoti was admitted to the Nigerian Bar by the Nigerian Body of Benchers on November 8, 2005. She began studying at the University of Dundee for her Master of Laws degree, which she completed in 2011, and her MBA in Oil and Gas Management in 2012.
Career
Akpoti worked as a legal counsel for Brass LNG from 2007 to 2010. In 2015, she founded the Builders Hub Impact Investment Program. She rose to prominence after she delivered an investigation report to the National Assembly on March 1, 2018, exposing corruption at the Ajaokuta steel factory.
The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development disputed the study, accusing Akpoti of disinformation. Another organization claims she is supporting a campaign. Following a court hearing before the Abuja High Court, The Authority Newspaper, Ifeanyi Ubah, and Williams Orji were sentenced to pay Akpoti 10 million naira for libellous publication.
Akpoti initially ran for Senator in the National Assembly, representing the Kogi Central Senatorial District under the PDP. She lost the race against Abubakar Sadiku Ohere, the All Progressives Congress candidate.
She was proclaimed the winner by the Court of Appeal in Abuja hearing the 2023 Kogi Central Senatorial election dispute.
Controversy
In February 2025, Akpoti claimed on Arise TV that Godswill Akpabio, the Senate president, sexually abused her on December 8, 2023. The sexual harassment case intensified on February 20, 2025, when she confronted Akpabio about shifting her place in the chamber by removing her nameplate.
Akpabio has denied the charges. Akpoti’s petition over Akpabio’s sexual harassment was summarily dismissed without inquiry on the basis of a technicality, namely that she had “signed it herself”. Senator Imasuen, chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Ethics and Privileges, condemned it as “dead on arrival”.
Akpoti was suspended from the Nigerian Senate for six months for misconduct on March 6, 2025, as reported by the Senate’s Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
The suspension is based on her violation of Sections 6.1 and 6.2 of the Nigerian Senate’s 2023 Standing Orders, which include a lack of access to her office, salary, and security. In addition, the Committee encouraged her to apologize to the Senate President for the sexual harassment claims, a request that was put to a vote several times in the Senate.
Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele also confirmed that Akpoti’s suspension was due to “persistent acts of misconduct” such as refusing to sit in her allotted seat, speaking without recognition, engaging in disruptive behavior, and making abusive remarks about Senate leadership.
In response, Akpabio’s legal team, lead by former Nigerian Bar Association President Olisa Agbakoba, urged that the claim be retracted, calling it as “clearly false and unsubstantiated”.
Agbakoba underlined anomalies in Akpoti-Uduaghan’s timeline, including her public endorsement of Akpabio on social media a day after the alleged encounter, and pointed out that the referenced post was later deleted, which he claimed weakened her credibility.
Akpoti also addressed her case before a United Nations conference, the Women in Parliament session in New York. In her statement, she detailed her claims and the fact of her subsequent suspension, stated that she would not apologise for them, and called for international involvement to hold the Nigerian Senate accountable.
Following Akpoti’s suspension, various civic groups and individuals, including the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties and the Coalition of National civic Society Organizations, have asked for a thorough investigation into the situation.
Stanbic IBTC’s founder, Atedo Peterside, slammed the suspension as “disturbing and disrespectful to her constituents”.
On April 18, 2025, Akpoti stated that armed men had invaded her family’s home in Obeiba-Ihima, Kogi State. In a statement sent by her Abuja media team, the senator alleged that the assailants raided and damaged her grandfather’s home.
The incident, which took place on April 16, was reportedly repulsed by security troops, saving additional damage or casualties. On July 4, 2025, an Abuja court ordered Akpoti’s ban lifted, citing it as disproportionate. It also convicted Akpoti of contempt and fined her five million naira ($3,250) for violating a gag order in her suspension case.
Despite this, Akpoti was banned from entering the National Assembly building on July 22.
Awards and Honours
Akpoti was awarded the “Politician of the Year” in the 2023 Leadership Excellence Awards, an award run by Nigerian media newspaper, Leadership. She was called “a proven amazon in political circles”.
In 2024, along Boma Goodhead, she was shortlisted for the African Iconic Women Recognition Awards (AIWRA). She won the This Day Senator of the Year award in 2025.
Natasha Akpoti Husband
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan married Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Alema of the Warri Kingdom. Their royal wedding was a magnificent event attended by luminaries from around Nigeria.
Chief Uduaghan is known for his charity and commitment to community development. The pair has supported a number of empowerment programs, particularly over the holiday season.
Natasha Akpoti Net Worth
Natasha Akporo’s net worth is estimated to be around $5 million based on her career as a lawyer, entrepreneur, and politician.
