There was drama in the Senate on Thursday after Senate President Godswill Akpabio brought up a controversial viral video allegedly showing Senator Adams Oshiomhole massaging a woman’s leg aboard an aircraft.
The moment came during deliberations on the confirmation of Prof. Abayomi Fasina as an ambassador, despite sexual harassment allegations against him.
Opposing the confirmation, Oshiomhole argued that the Senate should wait for the courts.
“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, said no court documents on the alleged sexual harassment were presented to his committee during screening.
“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 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 briefed him about the viral clip: “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, said the Senate could revisit the matter if credible evidence emerged: “But if you have another evidence, we have a petition before us. We can look into it if it’s not AI.”
The video in question resurfaced this week. It allegedly showed Oshiomhole massaging a woman’s leg during a flight and went viral earlier in 2026.
At the time, Oshiomhole’s camp dismissed it as an AI-generated clip meant to damage his reputation.
As of press time, neither Oshiomhole nor Lalong had publicly reacted to Akpabio’s comments during Thursday’s plenary.
