Senator Ireti Kingibe says she didn't sign the report that got her colleague Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan suspended from the Senate for six months. She only found out her name was on the document when other senators started talking.
Kingibe, who represents the Federal Capital Territory in the Senate, said she was at a retreat on the Tax Reform Bills on the day the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions adopted the recommendation. She's a member of that committee.
"I did tell everybody that I wasn't there. We were together at the retreat, and I did complain publicly. I wasn't there. I was at the retreat with him (Oshiomhole). He came to meet me there and when I heard about the report, I said, 'But we were here'," Kingibe said during an interview on Arise News Prime Time on Tuesday.
She said she and three or four other committee members went to the committee's meeting, signed the attendance register, and then left for the tax reform retreat.
"I signed attendance and I left to go to the Tax Reform Retreat because that, I thought, was much more important. It affects my constituents much more than disciplining a senator," she said.
Kingibe is a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). She said she complained to other senators, including Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, that she hadn't seen the report and hadn't endorsed it.
"I even complained to other senators, specifically, Senator Abaribe. I complained to him very bitterly that I have not seen that report, I didn't see it then and I haven't seen it till now. But I did not say anybody forged my signature. I couldn't have endorsed the committee report; I didn't see it," she said.
The controversy began after Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole appeared on AIT's Politics Today and said some senators had complained that their names appeared on the report even though they hadn't endorsed it. He specifically mentioned Kingibe.
Oshiomhole later denied saying signatures were forged, despite saying during the interview that lawmakers had raised concerns.
Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended in March 2025 after the committee found her guilty of defying the Senate's seating arrangement and engaging in misconduct during plenary on 20 February 2025. Before the suspension, she'd accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The suspension sparked widespread controversy, with many calling for Akpabio's removal. Last Monday, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele acknowledged that the issue had distracted the Senate.
Kingibe also said the whole situation could've been avoided if Akpoti-Uduaghan had simply apologised during plenary. She said other senators, like Ali Ndume, have apologised after breaching rules and faced no further sanctions.
"I have apologised after throwing a tantrum. Senator Ndume does it all the time, and we don't get suspended because immediately we are done, we realise that we have contravened the laws and rules of that particular place that we chose to be part of. And we do the necessary thing by apologising and it's over. It took as long as it did because it was absolutely unnecessary. Senator Natasha could have apologised," Kingibe said.
"I did tell everybody that I wasn't there. We were together at the retreat, and I did complain publicly."
Akpoti-Uduaghan's suspension is set to end in September 2025. The Senate hasn't yet addressed the allegations of signature forgery or the discrepancies in the committee report.