A South African lifestyle influencer, Leshaan Dagama, has broken her silence over the viral foot massage video involving a man widely said to resemble former Edo State governor and senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, insisting that the clip was not generated by artificial intelligence.
The video, which began circulating on social media earlier in the week, showed a man engaged in a relaxed conversation with a woman while massaging her feet as they rested on his lap.
The footage quickly sparked widespread reactions online, with many users linking the man in the video to Oshiomhole.
Initial reports had wrongly identified the woman as Lara Fortes, wife of the former Edo State governor. That claim was later dismissed after Dagama was named as the woman in the footage. Reports further stated that the clip was first shared on her TikTok account before it was deleted shortly after gaining attention.
As the controversy grew, Oshiomhole’s media aide, Oseni Momodu, issued a statement dismissing the video as fake. The statement described the footage as a “poorly crafted AI-generated video” and maintained that the incident never occurred. It also faulted online platforms for circulating what it described as unverified content, warning that such actions amounted to cyberbullying.
The aide added that steps were being taken to trace those behind the creation and circulation of the video, while urging members of the public to always verify information before drawing conclusions or making allegations against public figures.
However, Dagama appeared to counter the AI claim hours later through a post on her Instagram story. She wrote, “Video wasn’t AI but okay believe your senator,” accompanied by a smiling emoji that suggested indifference to the denial.
In a separate post, she shifted attention back to the senator, stating, “Your senator is the problem. Go be mad at him not me.”
The exchange has further fuelled online debate, with social media users divided over the authenticity of the video and the responses from both parties.
As of the time of filing this report, Oshiomhole has not personally issued a fresh statement beyond the position earlier communicated by his media aide.
