Senator Adams Oshiomhole, the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and current lawmaker representing Edo North Senatorial District, has responded to a storm of social media outrage over a viral video purportedly showing him massaging a woman’s foot aboard a private jet insisting the footage is artificial and fabricated.
The video, which spread rapidly across platforms including X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and TikTok, and triggered widespread criticism in Nigeria, appeared to show Oshiomhole seated beside a woman on a private aircraft, gently rubbing her foot in what many viewers described as a display of luxury and elite indulgence.
In a statement released through his media office, the senator hammered at the authenticity of the clip, branding it an “AI-generated fabrication” designed to damage his reputation. Oshiomhole’s team made clear their position that the video was “doctored by malicious actors” and urged journalists and members of the public to disregard it.
Therefore, early speculation about the identity of the woman in the clip further complicated the narrative. While some social media users initially assumed the woman was Oshiomhole’s wife, Iara Fortes, subsequent online reports indicated she is instead a South African lifestyle influencer and adult-content creator, known on TikTok as @leshaandagama, who describes herself as a “professional sugar baby.
That reclassification of her identity fueled additional debate and criticism, owing to perceptions about propriety and the public image of a sitting senator.
