Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Senate, has petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS) regarding the dissemination of a statement purportedly made by him on the 2027 presidential election.Through his office, Akpabio refuted the assertion and requested that the security agency look into the source, production, and distribution of the content.Jackson Udom, his Special Assistant on Media, revealed the situation on Wednesday.The contentious image featured Akpabio’s picture and his title as Senate President. A reported quote that warned Northerners they would “suffer the most” if President Bola Tinubu lost the 2027 election was shared on Facebook and other online sites.
The content was characterized as inaccurate, inflammatory, and divisive in Akpabio’s appeal, which was signed by his Chief of Staff, Chinedu Akubueze.”The President of the Senate did not make this statement,” the petition said. It has not been verified by a date, location, speech, interview, video, audio recording, official statement, or reliable news source.It further questioned the graphic’s legitimacy, pointing out that it purportedly lacked a traceable source or identifiable publisher’s mark.The petition claims that the content could mislead the public, incite animosity in the area, and give the appearance that Akpabio had threatened people in Northern Nigeria.
Additionally, the Senate President’s office identified a few people it claimed were among the first traceable Facebook amplifiers of the image.These included Uzoma Chilaka, whose post purportedly replicated the image along with remarks credited to him and Engineer Ibrahim Umar Ammar, and Abdullai Musa, who allegedly shared the content in the “Sheik Muhammad bin Uthman group 24.”The petition also mentioned Umar Ammar’s verified Facebook account, which it claimed later replicated the image and related remarks.However, Akpabio warned that the people listed shouldn’t be assumed guilty before an investigation is finished.
They were referred to as “material persons of interest” whose actions might help investigators identify the graphic’s originator, original uploader, sponsors, middlemen, and larger distribution network.As a result, the petition asked the DSS to investigate the image’s provenance, devices, communications, and publication records in compliance with the law.
