𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕’𝒔 𝑶𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑫𝑺𝑺 𝒕𝒐 𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑨𝒌𝒑𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒐 𝑸𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂

The Office of the President of the Senate has asked the Department of State Services to launch a full investigation into a false social media post wrongly credited to Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

In a letter dated September 9, 2026, the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Chinedu Francis Akubueze, told the DSS that the viral post was deliberately designed to cause ethnic tension and threaten national security.

The post, which has been circulating widely on Facebook and other platforms, shows a picture of Senator Akpabio with his official title and a quote that reads: "Northerners, you will be the ones to suffer the most if you allow Tinubu to lose the election."

The Senate office said the quote was completely made up. According to the petition, there is no record anywhere to back it up. The office checked speeches, interviews, public appearances, video and audio clips, official statements and media reports, but found nothing linking Senator Akpabio to those words. 

It also noted that the image had no identifiable media house or source, which further shows it was created to mislead people and push a harmful narrative.

The National Assembly leadership warned that Nigeria has suffered enough damage from divisive online propaganda. It said allowing such posts to spread without consequences will only encourage those who want to turn citizens against each other, weaken democratic institutions and destabilize the country.

To help the DSS, the Chief of Staff said the office is ready to provide all relevant materials. These include the fake graphic itself, screenshots, links to the posts, and initial details on how the content spread online. 

The evidence submitted with the petition names three online publishers Abdullahi Musa, Uzoma Chilaka and Engr. Ibrahim Umar Ammar and includes a timeline of how the post moved across the internet, as well as copies of previous denials and clarifications issued by the Senate.

The Senate President’s office urged the DSS to treat the case as urgent and to take necessary action to identify those behind the fabrication and stop further spread of the misinformation.