Tinubu Begged Me to Forgive Natasha and I Refused – Sandra Duru Insists

Prof. Sandra Chidinma Duru has claimed that President Bola Tinubu and other senior Nigerian leaders personally appealed to her to forgive Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over an alleged criminal defamation case, a request she says she flatly rejected, insisting that justice must prevail.

In a lengthy and emotionally charged statement, Duru declared: “Last night, I told the President no. Crime is crime. No selective justice.” She added that if activist Omoyele Sowore could be prosecuted for defamation, then “Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan must be prosecuted too.”

According to Duru, the matter goes far beyond a personal disagreement. “This was not a civil misunderstanding,” she said. “This was a serious and deliberate act of aggressive criminal defamation, coordinated sponsorship of attacks against my person, and a deliberate smear campaign against me.”

She revealed that influential figures attempted to intervene on Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s behalf. “I was approached by senior Nigerian leaders, including the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and top government officials, urging me to forgive Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan,” Duru stated. “But I bluntly refused and insisted that she should be prosecuted.”

Duru emphasized that the police had already taken a position on the matter. “An official police report has already indicted her, despite relentless attempts to politicize the criminal matter and portray me as lacking credibility,” she said, insisting that “every effort to silence me failed” and “every attempt to discredit me collapsed.”

She accused a network of individuals of pushing what she described as false narratives to the highest levels of government. “From Natasha Akpoti herself to corrupt and compromised police officers, all the way to those who deliberately misled the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, they pushed a fabricated narrative,” she alleged.

Addressing claims that she sponsored manipulated audio recordings, Duru said: “They claimed whistleblowers confessed that I paid them to clone, alter, or AI-generate Natasha’s voice. Nigerians remember those staged individuals.” She described the allegations as lies deliberately sold to powerful figures, including “the Attorney General, and ultimately believed by President Bola Tinubu.”

She also dismissed allegations that the Senate President allegedly paid her millions of dollars. “They even concocted another absurd lie, that the Senate President paid me two million dollars to defend him,” she said, adding: “Two million dollars for what? No innocent man pays a stranger any amount, let alone such a sum, to defend him against a fabricated plot.”

Duru framed the controversy as a struggle between power and principle. “This was never about truth. It was about power,” she wrote. “They weaponized gender, religion, propaganda, and media manipulation. Yet they underestimated one thing: integrity.”

She claimed she immediately reported the alleged plot to law enforcement. “The moment Natasha Akpoti contacted me to recruit me into her plot against the Senate President, I immediately reported the matter to the Nigerian Police,” she said, stressing that she had no prior relationship with the Senate President. “He does not know me. I have never met him.”

Reaffirming her stance, Duru declared: “I do not give bribes. I do not take bribes. I refuse dirty money because I refuse control.” She described her position as moral rather than political, stating, “This is not politics for me. It is spiritual discipline. It is principle.”

She rejected all appeals for leniency. “No president, no office, no political appointment can stop me from pursuing justice,” she said, adding, “Forgiveness without accountability is injustice.”

Questioning what she sees as double standards, Duru asked: “If the Nigerian state can prosecute Omoyele Sowore for defaming the President and the Inspector General of Police, then explain to Nigerians why Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan should be treated differently.”

Highlighting the human cost of defamation, she said: “My children feel that pain. The family of late Miss Umoren feels that pain. Mrs. Akpabio and her children feel that pain.” She added that she was “at the center of a coordinated assault on my integrity, credibility, and the mental health of innocent children.”

Duru concluded by vowing to escalate the matter globally. “We are not silent. We are strategic. Plans B, C, and D are already in motion,” she said, announcing plans to begin “a media campaign on this issue as soon as I return to the United States.”

Her final words were unequivocal: “I will not abandon this matter today, tomorrow, or ever until justice is served. Justice is not negotiable.”

A commenter on her post stated, "Just imagine how our president is being insulted just because of Akpabio."

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