There was a moment of drama in the Senate on Thursday after Senate President Godswill Akpabio resurrected the controversial viral video allegedly showing Senator Adams Oshiomhole massaging a woman’s leg aboard an aircraft during deliberations on the confirmation of ambassadorial nominees.
The incident occurred while senators were considering the nomination of Professor Abayomi Fasina as an ambassador despite sexual harassment allegations against him.
Opposing the confirmation, Oshiomhole argued that the Senate should allow the courts to determine the matter before approving Fasina’s appointment.
“The man, who is also a professor, has been accused by two women of sexual harassment and the cases are in court. The Senate shouldn’t confirm him as an ambassador until the court gives a ruling on the cases,” Oshiomhole said.
Responding, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Simon Lalong, maintained that no court documents relating to the alleged sexual harassment case were presented to his committee during the screening process.
“No court proceedings regarding the sexual harassment case were brought before my committee. It’s not every allegation that will stop the proceedings of the Senate,” Lalong said.
The exchange prompted Akpabio to make a remark that immediately drew laughter from lawmakers.
“I don’t want to go outside of what we are doing. I would have asked a question when there was a picture showing one of our senators in a plane, massaging the leg of a girl,” the Senate President said.
Turning to Oshiomhole, Akpabio added that Lalong had previously approached him with what he described as security information concerning the viral video.
“Senator Oshiomhole, your friend, your very good friend, Senator Lalong, came to give me security information. He said that we just ignored the massaging because we thought it was AI.”
Akpabio, however, noted that the Senate could revisit the issue if credible evidence was presented.
“But if you have another evidence, we have a petition before us. We can look into it if it’s not AI,” he said.
Watch the video below;
The remark revived public attention to the viral video that circulated earlier this year, allegedly showing Oshiomhole massaging a woman’s leg during a flight.
At the time, the video generated reactions on social media, while Oshiomhole’s camp dismissed it as an artificial intelligence-generated clip designed to damage his reputation.
As of the time of filing this report, neither Oshiomhole nor Lalong had publicly reacted to Akpabio’s latest comments during Thursday’s plenary.
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