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A Nigerian senator has owned up to a scandalous video that showed him dressing up in the presence of two women in a room, presumably after a good time.
But Bukar Ibrahim, representing Yobe East Senatorial District, told Nigeria`s PREMIUM TIMES in his first interview since the scandal broke that he had not committed any official wrong doing and the video was only made public after attempts to blackmail him failed.
“This is a personal, private matter. What does my having been with a girl have to do with the public?
“You know the normal thing: people ask for unreasonable things, and if you deny them, they try to blackmail you if they have a way,” Mr. Ibrahim, a former governor of Yobe State, said Monday afternoon.
Sahara Reporters published the video on the Internet Sunday, and it quickly caught online frenzy.
The footage, roughly two minutes long, showed Mr. Ibrahim reaching for his underwear, apparently after emerging from the shower.
In the room, one of the two women in the video held a device that was capturing the activities; while the other strolled about. But none of them was stripped like Mr. Ibrahim.
The senator said he owed no one an explanation since he was not accused of any crime.
“If they say I raped, that’s a different matter altogether,” Mr. Ibrahim said. “Is it because I am a public official then I am not supposed to be entitled to private life?”
The senator said he knew when one of the women was filming him, but was told it was only for fun and they also wanted to illuminate the room with a camera.
“They just mentioned it to me as a joke and I took it as nothing really serious,” he said. “This is something that happened between two adults.”
Mr. Ibrahim, who signed a controversial Sharia law while in office as governor, nonetheless, said he will investigate the matter.
“I have commenced investigations to find out why it is circulating,” the senator said. “But from all indications, it is a blackmail.”
