Senate denies Oshiomole’s claim of forged signatures in Natasha’s suspension report

The spokesperson of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, has dismissed the allegation made by Senator Adams Oshiomole that the signatures of some of the Senators who approved the report that recommended the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, last year, were forged.

Oshiomole made the claim in a fresh interview with AIT. The former Edo governor claimed that Ireti Kingibe, the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), told him that she only signed the attendance register of the committee meeting and not the suspension report.

Responding to the allegation, Adaramodu, in a chat with The Cable, said  

“That is not true. Signatures forged, over what? If Senator Kingibe had anything against any procedure, she would report it on the floor of the Senate, not to an individual.

But it is not even true, because I was part of the ethics and public petitions committee that listened to the matter.

Nobody will say that he or she was coerced or that somebody’s signature was forged. That has never happened in the Senate, and it cannot happen. It has never happened.

Senators are independent-minded people. We are mature men and women. And if you have any infraction against anybody, that person can, without any advocate from anywhere, that person will show it. So there’s nothing like that. I’m just hearing it for the first time. That’s very strange.”

Asked whether the Senate would sanction Oshiomhole over the allegations, Adaramodu said the chamber would first examine the remarks.

“We are going to review any statements made by him. The Senate will take a cursory look at either extraneous, spontaneous or intentional comments from any senator appropriately. 

We are going to look into it. We will take a stand, and everyone will know where we stand. But we can say no senator has reported that his or her signature was forged during the Natasha matter.

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

All Nigerians knew where we stood then on the issue of Natasha… that she ran foul of the Senate’s orders. And we are orderly because we are bound by orders of the Senate.”