The accusation triggered heated exchanges on the House floor, with Mr Ugochinyere insisting that the endorsement was voluntary and backed by a majority of opposition MPs.
A fresh controversy over the leadership of the opposition caucus in the House of Representatives erupted on Thursday after deputy spokesperson of the House Philip Agbese denied endorsing Ikenga Ugochinyere for the position of minority leader and accused an unnamed MP of forging his signature.
The dispute, which played out during plenary, triggered heated exchanges among lawmakers and briefly disrupted proceedings as MPs argued over competing claims surrounding the ongoing contest for the minority leadership position.
The development comes barely 24 hours after documents obtained by journalists indicated that 61 of the 81 opposition MPs in the House had endorsed Mr Ugochinyere for the position of minority leader and submitted their nominations to Speaker Abbas Tajudeen ahead of an expected announcement on the leadership of the minority caucus.
Mr Agbese, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State on the platform of the Labour Party, was listed among the 61 lawmakers who reportedly signed the nomination document.
However, raising a matter of privilege during Thursday’s plenary, the member distanced himself from the endorsement and alleged that his signature had been used without his consent.
“Yesterday I saw a document on the internet with my name reportedly nominating a member of this House for the post of minority leader.”
He further explained that while he had held discussions with several MPs, including Mr Ugochinyere, those conversations were focused on issues affecting the opposition and constituency projects rather than the minority leadership race.
“I had conversed, deliberated and visited many members of this House. One of the people I had such discussions with was my colleague, Honourable Ikenga Ugochinyere. Our discussion was basically centred on the welfare of members of the caucus.
“Number two was the issue of the executive not adhering to issues concerning our constituency projects,” he said.
Mr Agbese further questioned the authenticity of the endorsement document, claiming that one of its signatories, Seyi Sowunmi (NDC, Lagos), could not have legitimately obtained his signature.
“The person who signed this document, Honourable Seyi …I have not seen him since December 2025, so I am at a loss and I feel that my legislative privilege has been breached because this amounts to forgery for my signature to be used for purposes which were not intended,” he said.
The MP asked the House to investigate the matter and stop any further use of his signature.
He also accused supporters of Mr Ugochinyere of allegedly attempting to tarnish his image through reports suggesting that MPs received $50,000 in connection with the endorsement.
“I saw on a social media blog that members have received a certain amount of money. I have not received any amount of money from anybody,” he said.
Mr Agbese said he intended to submit both the document and media reports before the House to support his claims.
“My constituents have been calling me to know. This is not the first time my name has been mentioned in an issue like this. I don’t want to be involved and I don’t want my name to be further maligned as far as this is concerned because I have a right as a member of this House for my privileges to be fully protected,” he added.
Responding, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen acknowledged the complaint and promised that the matter would receive attention.
“The observations and complaints are duly noted. We will take action on the issue raised in due course,” Mr Tajudeen said.
However, the Speaker appealed to opposition members to avoid further public confrontation on the matter and announced a closed-door meeting with all minority members later in the day.
“I want to bring to the attention of all minorities that I am inviting every minority member of this House to a closed-door meeting today at 2 o’clock so that we can discuss further.
“I don’t want us to further debate on this matter on the floor. It is something within the family for us to discuss and make decisions appropriately,” he said.
Despite the speaker’s intervention, the matter continued to generate debate.
Billy Osawaru, a member from Edo State, argued that the allegations raised by Mr Agbese were serious enough to warrant a formal investigation by the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
“We know the nature of the issue we are dealing with. An issue like this should be referred to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges no matter what we want to do. I think it’s also a parliamentary procedure,” he said.
The position was supported by Ojema Ojotu, an APC member from Benue State.
Mr Ugochinyere who represents Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State, immediately rose to strongly reject the allegations and insisted that Mr Agbese personally endorsed his nomination.
According to him, the Benue lawmaker visited him and signed the nomination document voluntarily in the presence of witnesses.
“My colleague Agbese made some weighty allegations before every member here and today on live transmission,” Mr Ugochinyere said.
“My brother arrived from Benue late for our meeting, met me in the office in the presence of some of my colleagues that I will bring forward, and voluntarily on his own and independently pledged and signed my nomination for the post of minority leader.”
Before he could continue, Mr Agbese interrupted him.
