19 Things You Should Know About Kogi Politician, Natasha Akpoti

Natasha Akpoti is a barrister, social entrepreneur, and politician.

Her loss at the February 25 senatorial elections to her APC counterpart made national headlines even when it was glaring that she was the winner.

However on September 6, about seven months after the election, she was declared the winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial elections by the Elections Petition Tribunal.

Here are some things to know about her.

1. Natasha Hadiza Akpoti was born on December 9^th, 1979 in Ilorin, Kwara state.

2. Akpoti hails from Okehi in Kogi State.

3. She is the second of four children and the only daughter of a Nigerian father and a Ukrainian mother.

4. Her parents met in the then Soviet Union where her father was a foreign medical student on scholarship at the Bolomolets Medical University, Ukraine.

5. She attended Christ the King Nursery and Primary School in Okene, Kogi state for her primary education.

6. For her junior secondary school education, She attended Government Girls Unity Secondary School, Oboroke, Kogi state before proceeding to Federal Government College Idoani, Ondo state for her Senior Secondary education where she graduated in 1997.

7. Her exceptional academic and personal performances at secondary school earned her the leadership position of the Head Girl.

8. Natasha gained admission into the University of Abuja to study Law barely three weeks after her father’s death in 1998.

9. She got married at the tender age of 19 a week after her admission and had her first son Daniel months after.

10.  She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 2004 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2005 upon graduation from the Nigerian Law School in Abuja.

11. She worked with Brass NLG as a legal counsel from 2007 to 2010 upon her graduation from law school.

12. She bagged a Master of Business Administration in Oil & Gas Management from the University of Dundee in 2012.

13. Her journey into social entrepreneurship started in 2015 out of an innate position. She fueled that passion by applying for the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program in Singapore in 2016 where she acquired applicable knowledge on smart innovative sustainable solutions for tackling neglected problems at all levels of society.

14. She is the founder of the Builders Hub Impact Investment Program (BHIIP).

15. Natasha came to national prominence after presenting an investigative report to the National Assembly on 1 March 2018 on corrupt activities regarding the Ajaokuta steel mill.

16. She declared her intentions to run for the office of Senator representing Kogi Central in the Nigerian Senate under the umbrella of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 2018.

17. On 25 May 2022, Natasha won the PDP’s primaries for the 2023 Kogi Centre Senatorial Elections.

18. She married the Alema of Warri, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan on 5 March 2022.

19. She has three children.