An FCT senator says she left the committee session before the contentious report was finalized or presented.
Senator Ireti Kingibe confirmed on June 18 she never saw the Natasha suspension report, deepening the forgery allegation row in Nigeria’s Senate.
Senator Ireti Kingibe confirmed on June 18 she never saw the Natasha suspension report, deepening the forgery allegation row in Nigeria’s Senate. The FCT senator made the disclosure during a live interview on Arise News on Wednesday morning, drawing immediate national attention to a controversy that had already split the upper chamber along factional lines.
Her remarks appear to corroborate claims first aired publicly on Monday, June 15, by Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who told AIT’s “Politics Today” program that at least three senators were listed on the committee report without their knowledge or consent.
Kingibe told Arise News: “I never saw the report that led to Senator Natasha’s suspension. We attended the Committee on Petitions and Public Complaints, signed the attendance register, and I later left for the tax reform retreat. That single statement, running barely two sentences on television, triggered a cascade of responses across the National Assembly complex at Three Arms Zone, Abuja, by Wednesday afternoon. The Senate’s position hardened fast.
Senate spokesperson Yemi Adaramodu dismissed Kingibe’s account in a press briefing on Tuesday, before her Wednesday interview aired, insisting no signatures were falsified at any point during the disciplinary process. Adaramodu also dismissed claims involving Senator Kingibe specifically, saying she had never raised any complaint before the Senate regarding the matter. The Senate has not scheduled a formal probe as of Thursday evening, June 18.
Oshiomhole had alleged that at least three senators privately told him they did not sign the report recommending Akpoti-Uduaghan’s six-month suspension, despite their names appearing on the document. Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended in March 2025 over allegations of gross misconduct and unruly behavior following her dispute with Senate President Godswill Akpabio. That suspension became one of the most publicly contested disciplinary actions in the history of the 10th Senate.
But Oshiomhole reversed course by Wednesday. He stated that “the insinuation that I said signatures of Senators were forged is a complete misrepresentation” and added, “I agree absolutely with the spokesperson of the Senate, Distinguished Senator Yemi Adaramodu, that no signature of senators was forged in Natasha Akpoti’s suspension.” Critics noted his reversal came less than 48 hours after his original AIT broadcast, without a retraction from Arise News or AIT.
Senate spokesman Opeyemi Bamidele has said the Red Chamber would probe questions about the authenticity of signatures and endorsements attached to the report adopted by the Senate. No timeline for that review has been announced. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s legal team has not released a formal statement responding to Kingibe’s Wednesday disclosure, according to records available to Westtrybe by Thursday, June 18, at 9 p.m.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had accused Senate President Akpabio of victimization and later alleged sexual harassment, claims the Senate President denied. Those earlier allegations set the political temperature inside the chamber before the Ethics Committee ever produced its report. Kingibe’s confirmation that she never reviewed that report now places the forgery allegation at the center of any future legal or parliamentary challenge Akpoti-Uduaghan may mount against her Natasha suspension.
