“Very Strange” – Senate Denies Forgery Allegation Raised by Oshiomhole in Natasha’s Suspension Case

The Nigerian Senate has dismissed allegation of forged signatures in the incidents that led to the suspension of Kogi Central lawmaker, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Senate spokesman, Yemi Adaramodu, said the allegation of forgery by the Senator of Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole is not true at all.

Oshiomhole had alleged that signatures of not less than three lawmakers were forged or improperly inserted in the report recommending the six-month suspension of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The claim followed comments by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, who described Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension as one of the lowest moments of the 10th Senate.

The ex-Edo State governor made the disclosure while speaking in an interview on AIT, on Monday, saying some of the senators whose names appeared in the report told him in private that they had neither signed the document nor endorsed its recommendations.

But Adaramodu dismissed Oshiomhole’s claim in a telephone chat with The Cable on Tuesday.

“That’s not true. “You’re forging signatures, for what?” he said.

He also stated that Senator Ireti Kingibe, whose name was mentioned by Oshiomhole, did not complain to the Senate.

“Senators are independent-minded,” he said, and the allegations of a supposed forgery are very strange.

“If she has any objection to any process she would report same on the floor of the senate and not to an individual,” he said.

“But that is not even the case because I sat on the ethics and public petitions committee that heard the matter.

“Nobody will say that he or she was coerced or forged of somebody’s signature. That has never happened in the senate and it can’t happen. Never happened.

“Senators are people of independent mind. We’re grown men and women. And if you have any infraction against anybody, that person can without any advocate from anywhere, that person will show. So, there’s nothing like that. I’ve heard it for the first time. “That’s very weird,” Adaramodu said.

When asked if the Senate would endorse Oshiomhole over the allegations, Adaramodu said the chamber would first examine the remarks before taking a stand.

“We will look at any comments he has made. The senate will give a cursory look to extraneous, spontaneous or intentional comments by any senator, appropriately.

“We are going to investigate. We’re going to make a stand and everyone’s going to know where we stand. But we can say there has not been a report by any senator that his or her senator has been forged in the Natasha matter.

It was debated openly on the floor of the senate at the plenary session in the full glare of every Nigerian and even the international audience so there is nothing to hide.

All Nigerians knew our position at that time on the issue of Natasha… that she had violated the orders of the senate. And we are orderly because we are bounded by orders of the senate,” he said.

Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended in March 2025 on allegations of gross misconduct and unruly behaviour after a disagreement with Senate President Godswill Akpabio.