Senator Ireti Kingibe, who represents the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the Senate, has clarified that she never accused anyone of forging her signature on the committee report that recommended the suspension of Kogi Central senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Speaking in an interview with Arise Television, Kingibe explained that although her signature appears on the document, she neither saw nor reviewed its contents before it was submitted.
She said she only attended the committee’s sitting briefly before excusing herself for a tax reform retreat she considered more pressing for her constituents.
“I did tell everybody that I was not there. I wasn’t there. I was in the retreat with him. He came to meet me there, and when I heard about the report, I said, ‘But we were here,'” she recounted.
According to her, she and three or four other senators on the committee signed the attendance register at the petitions committee sitting before she left for the retreat, trusting that other members would handle the rest of the process.
“It affects my constituents much more than disciplining a senator. And I figured that the other people who were not part of that committee would take care of it,” she said.
Kingibe confirmed that a photocopy of her signature does appear on the report, but insisted she never signed off on its actual content and had since raised the issue with Senate leadership.
“I even complained to other senators, specifically Senator Barau, I complained to him very bitterly that I have not seen that report. I didn’t see it then, I have not seen it till now. But I did not say anybody forged my signature,” she said, adding, “I couldn’t have endorsed the committee report, I didn’t see it.”
The senator used the opportunity to criticise what she described as a flawed Senate process, arguing that lawmakers should be allowed to read reports fully before signing them rather than signing first and reviewing later.
“There are many, many things that I feel should not be the way they are. Number one, I feel that we should be given reports to read when they are ready, and then we sign them, not that the reports are written and then… sometimes we’re just given to sign,” she said.
She maintained that it was improbable she would sign a document without understanding its content, stressing again that her signature’s presence on the report does not mean she endorsed its findings.
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