Natasha suspension: Oshiomhole denies alleged signature forgery claim

Former Edo State Governor and representative of Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, has denied accusing senators of forging signatures in the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Oshiomhole, who appeared on the AIT political programme: “Democracy Today,” on Monday, denied his response to a question.

He said it was an obvious misrepresentation of the statement during the course of the interview.

In a statement through his media team, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior explained that he only stated that one Senator, who is a member of the Committee, “claimed” that the signatures of attendance of some senators were attached to the final report. 

The federal lawmaker clarified that the context in which he commented on Senator Natasha Akpoti’s issue was that the AIT’s interviewer’s claimed that Senate Leader, Bamidele Opeyemi referred to the matter as the “lowest point of the three years of the 10th Senate” to which he replied that “if indeed the Senate Leader said so, yes it should be taken seriously, because he is not given to frivolities.” 

The former Edo State governor further backed the spokesperson of the Senate, Yemi Adaramodu, in his response to the viral video shared by online influencers, stating that no senators’ signatures were forged in Natasha Akpoti’s suspension, as no member of the Senate raised an alarm that his or her signature was forged. 

The former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the issue of the suspension of the representative of Kogi Central Senatorial District has been put to rest and the Senate has since moved on to focus on people-oriented legislative works.

He, however, regretted that his comments may have caused embarrassment to any senator or the 10th Senate as an institution.