President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS) over a purported anti-North statement falsely attributed to him and circulated on Facebook and other digital platforms.
According to the petition, signed by his Chief of Staff, Chinedu Akubueze, Akpabio urged the DSS to investigate the origin and coordinated distribution of the statement, which he described as “manifestly false, inflammatory and dangerously divisive”.
The circulating graphic, which bears Akpabio’s photograph and identifies him as Senate President, allegedly quotes him as saying: “Northerners, You Will Be The Ones To Suffer The Most, If You Allow Tinubu To Lose The Election.”
The petition stated that Akpabio did not make the statement, noting that there was no identifiable date, venue, speech, interview, audio or video recording, official statement or credible news report supporting the alleged quotation.
It further alleged that the graphic had no identifiable publisher or verifiable source and appeared to have been deliberately created and presented as an authentic statement.
Akpabio seeks investigation into circulation
The Senate President’s petition alleged that the material was designed to deceive the public, provoke regional resentment and portray him as threatening people from Northern Nigeria.
It said a preliminary review of publicly available Facebook records identified individuals believed to have been among the earliest amplifiers of the graphic.
Those named included Abdullai Musa, who allegedly posted the graphic in a Facebook group styled “Sheik Muhammad bin Uthman group 24”, and Uzoma Chilaka, whose post reportedly reproduced the graphic alongside commentary attributed to him and Engineer Ibrahim Umar Ammar.
The petition also alleged that Ammar’s verified Facebook account subsequently reproduced the graphic and substantially similar commentary.
However, Akpabio’s petition stressed that those identified should not be presumed guilty before investigation.
It described them as persons of interest whose records and communications could potentially help investigators establish the source of the graphic, including its designer, original uploader, sponsors and distribution network.
Akpabio therefore asked the DSS to investigate the publication records, devices and communications of relevant persons, as well as the provenance of the disputed image.
