Senator Adams Oshiomhole, chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior and APC senator representing Edo North, has distanced himself from claims that he accused fellow lawmakers of forging signatures during the controversial suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
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In a statement issued on Tuesday, Oshiomhole described as a “complete misrepresentation” media reports suggesting he had alleged that senators’ signatures were forged in the process that led to Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, chaired by Senator Neda Imasuen.
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“The insinuation that I said signatures of Senators were forged is a complete misrepresentation of what I actually said,” Oshiomhole said, adding that he was in full agreement with Senate spokesperson Senator Yemi Adaramodu that no senator’s signature was forged.
The former Edo State governor clarified that his remarks during a Monday appearance on AIT’s Politics Today programme were narrowly framed. He said the only comment he made was that one committee member claimed the attendance signatures of some senators were attached to the final report — a statement he stressed fell short of any allegation of forgery.
Oshiomhole also offered context for how Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension arose in the interview at all. He said the AIT presenter had put to him a claim that Senate Majority Leader Senator Bamidele Opeyemi described the episode as the “lowest point of the three years of the 10th Senate,” to which he responded that if the Senate Leader indeed said so, the remark deserved to be taken seriously, given that Opeyemi was “not given to frivolities.”
“As far as I am concerned, the issue of suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has been put to rest and the Senate has since moved on,” Oshiomhole said.
He closed with a measured apology, expressing regret if his comments caused embarrassment to any senator or to the 10th Senate as an institution.
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