Akpabio Lists Facebook Users As Persons Of Interest, Petitions DSS Over Fake Anti-North Statement
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has petitioned the Department of State Services, DSS, over a purported anti-Northern statement attributed to him and circulated on Facebook and other digital platforms.
The petition, filed by Akpabio’s Chief of Staff, Chinedu Akubueze, on behalf of the Senate President and made available to journalists in Abuja by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, urged the secret police to urgently investigate what it described as the creation and coordinated dissemination of a “manifestly false, inflammatory and dangerously divisive statement.”
The offending graphic carries the photograph and designation of the Senate President and attributes the following words to him: “Northerners, You Will Be The Ones To Suffer The Most, If You Allow Tinubu To Lose The Election”.
“Akpabio did not make this statement. No date, venue, speech, interview, video, audio recordings, official statement or credible news report has been produced to authenticate it,” the petition partly read.
It added that the graphic carried no identifiable publisher’s mark or verifiable source, alleging that it was deliberately manufactured and presented as an authentic quotation to deceive the public, provoke regional resentment against Akpabio, and portray him as threatening the people of Northern Nigeria.
A preliminary examination of Facebook records identified some of the earliest amplifiers of the graphic as Abdullai Musa, who allegedly posted it in a Facebook group styled “Sheikh Muhammad bin Uthman group 24”, and Uzoma Chilaka, whose post allegedly reproduced the graphic alongside a commentary credited to Boniface Uzoma Chilaka and Engineer Ibrahim Umar Ammar.
The petition also listed a verified Facebook account belonging to Ibrahim Umar Ammar as having subsequently reproduced the graphic and similar commentary.
However, Akpabio’s office cautioned against presuming the identified individuals guilty, describing them instead as persons of interest whose activities could assist investigators in tracing the origin and distribution of the fake statement.
“These persons should not be presumed guilty before investigation. Nevertheless, their early and substantial roles in circulating the material make them material persons of interest, who may possess information capable of identifying the graphics designer, original uploader, sponsors, intermediaries and the network through which it was distributed.
“Their publication records, devices, communications and the provenance of the image should therefore be investigated in accordance with the laws,” the petition stated.
The petition comes amid heightened political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Akpabio, who represents Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, has remained one of the prominent political figures in the President Bola Tinubu administration.
