Hon. Philip Agbese, the lawmaker who stood before the House of Representatives on Thursday to deny signing an endorsement of Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere as new Minority Leader, was captured on camera when he endorsed the latter late last month.
CCTV footage seen by THE WHISTLER showed the moment Agbese, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State, walked into Ugochinyere’s office and signed a document endorsing the Imo lawmaker’s bid for the position.
THE WHISTLER gathered that Agbese arrived at the office at about 5pm on May 21, 2026, to append his signature.
The footage also shows that he signed the register in the presence of Hon. Midala Usman, who represents Askira-Uba/Hawul Federal Constituency of Borno State.
The CCTV footage emerged hours after Agbese triggered a rowdy session at Thursday’s plenary by moving a motion of personal explanation over alleged forgery of his signature.
The controversy followed the resignation of Hon. Kingsley Chinda as Minority Leader. Chinda is now the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for Rivers State.
Agbese told the house that he was shocked to see on social media a list of members who had signed and endorsed Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato North and South Federal Constituency of Imo State, to emerge as the new Minority Leader.
“This is my integrity I am talking about. I never signed any document and I never received any amount of money, and I will never do.
“I will tender the list to the house as well as the link to the online report for this house to investigate the matter,” he had said on the floor of the Green Chamber. .
The Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, noted the motion and said the house would take action in due course.
Ugochinyere, however, sought an opportunity to respond. He told the house that Agbese was absent at the minority caucus meeting where he was selected as Minority Leader by an overwhelming majority of 61 members who signed the endorsement.
He said Agbese subsequently came to his office to personally append his signature to the endorsement document.
The speaker directed that all disagreements be taken to a minority caucus meeting scheduled for that purpose.
