Senator Adams Oshiomhole said on live television that some senators' signatures were forged on the recommendation to suspend Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan last year. Less than 24 hours later, he released a statement denying he ever made that claim.
The problem? The video of the interview is still online.
During Monday's edition of AIT's Politics Today, Oshiomhole, a former Edo State governor and current chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, was asked to respond to Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele's remark that Akpoti-Uduaghan's suspension was one of the Senate's lowest moments in recent years.
Oshiomhole said some senators had complained that their names appeared on the suspension recommendation even though they never signed it. He specifically named Senator Ireti Kingibe, who represents the Federal Capital Territory.
"There are people who wonder, who claim that their signatures were forged on that document. Someone like Senator Kingibe…she told me, 'but I didn't sign that report, and I didn't agree with the content,' but her name was published," Oshiomhole said.
He explained how Senate committee reports work: members who agree sign the report, and those who disagree can abstain. Then he dropped the bombshell.
"So, there are one or two or three senators who said they didn't sign, 'but our names were there, how?' Some said they may have attached an attendance register, which is inappropriate."
That statement — that signatures appeared on a document without the signatories' consent — is the textbook definition of forgery. Yet by Tuesday, Oshiomhole was accusing the media of misinterpreting his words.
Premium Times, which first reported the story, noted that Oshiomhole presented the allegation as a complaint from other senators rather than a claim he had independently verified. But the paper stood by its reporting, saying the former governor's denial was contradicted by his own words.
The paper also reported exclusively that the signatures on the suspension report were allegedly copied from an attendance register.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended in 2025 after a confrontation with Senate President Godswill Akpabio over seating arrangements escalated into allegations of sexual harassment. The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions recommended her suspension, and the full Senate adopted it. She's since been barred from the chamber.
Oshiomhole's comments have now reignited questions about whether the process that led to her suspension was fair. If signatures were indeed forged, the entire recommendation could be invalid.
But instead of addressing the substance, Oshiomhole chose to blame the media. Premium Times suggested he may have come under pressure from colleagues, which could explain his sudden retreat.
Either way, the tape doesn't lie. Oshiomhole said senators' signatures were forged. He used the word "forged." He named a senator who told him she didn't sign. Then he said the media got it wrong.
Nigerians have seen this play before: a politician speaks freely, the backlash comes, and the media becomes the scapegoat. But with video evidence circulating on social media, this particular denial may not stick.