A female South African social media personality, Leshaan Dagama, at the centre of a controversy involving Nigerian Senator Adams Oshiomhole, amid waves of comment and criticism that crossed national lines, Dagama took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday, February 4 to push back against negative messages from online users.
In her post, she acknowledged she was the woman seen in the video but explicitly rejected responsibility for the public reactions to it.
“Your senator is the problem, go be mad at him, not me,” Dagama wrote, redirecting frustration toward Oshiomhole rather than herself.
Her statement quickly became one of the most widely shared responses linked to the clip, as Nigerian netizens debated social media ethics, public conduct by officials, and issues of privacy and accountability.
Senator Oshiomhole’s camp has taken a starkly different position on the video’s authenticity. Through his media office, the senator denied the footage shows a real event involving him and asserted that it was created using artificial intelligence and malicious editing techniques.
In a statement describing the footage as “a poorly crafted and edited fake AI video,” his team suggested the aim was to damage his reputation and mislead the public. They pointed to perceived technical flaws in the clip as evidence of fraud, and urged both the media and social media users to disregard it entirely.
The controversy has prompted a wide range of responses online. Some social media users criticised what they see as an ostentatious display by a public official at a time when many Nigerians continue to struggle with economic hardship and rising living costs. Others suggested caution, noting the challenges of judging a short, unverified video.
Amid the broader debate, commentators have questioned how public figures should be held accountable for their conduct, both in private life and official duties, especially when images and videos can be easily manipulated or taken out of context.
The dispute comes at a moment when social media and political discourse in Nigeria are sharply attuned to questions of privilege, inequality, and the behaviour of elected officials. Whether the clip ultimately proves to be genuine, doctored, or entirely artificial, it has reignited conversations about digital misinformation, and the accountability of those in positions of authority when their images are thrust into the public spotlight.
