Akpabio petitions DSS over anti-North statement

President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, on Wednesday petitioned the Department of State Services over a purported anti-Northern statement allegedly attributed to him and circulated on Facebook and other digital platforms.

His Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, made the complaint available to journalists in Abuja.

The petition, filed by Akpabio’s Chief of Staff, Chinedu Akubueze, on behalf of the Senate President, urged the DSS to urgently investigate what it described as the creation and coordinated dissemination of a “manifestly false, inflammatory and dangerously divisive statement” attributed to Akpabio.

According to him, 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”.

The petition partly read, “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.”

It added that the graphic carried no identifiable publisher’s mark or verifiable source, alleging that it appeared to have been deliberately manufactured and presented as an authentic quotation.

Akubueze said the alleged fabrication was intended to deceive the public, provoke regional resentment against Akpabio, and portray him as threatening the people of Northern Nigeria.

He further stated that a preliminary examination of publicly accessible Facebook records identified some of the earliest traceable amplifiers of the graphic.

They included Abdullai Musa, who allegedly posted the graphic in a Facebook group styled “Sheikh Muhammad bin Uthman group 24”, and Uzoma Chilaka, whose Facebook 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 a certain Ibrahim Umar Ammar as having subsequently reproduced the graphic and substantially 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 alleged fake statement.

“These persons,” the petition noted, “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 comes amid heightened political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections, with politicians and political parties increasingly using social media platforms to mobilise supporters and campaign for public support.

Akpabio, who represents Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, has remained one of the prominent political figures in the President Bola Tinubu administration and has frequently featured in political debates surrounding the 2027 elections.