Multiple Twitter accounts purporting to belong to Godswill Akpabio, the President of the 10th Nigeria Senate, have been observed to be sharing numerous posts on the microblogging platform.
A Twitter account with the username Senator Godswill akpabio, CON @sen_akpabio, is followed by Sheu Sani, a former Senator, and other 8,862 followers as of the time of filing this report.
The description on the handle claims that the account is controlled by Akpabio’s personal assistant.
On Wednesday, July 5, 2023, the handle posted that the public should follow the account to get in touch with the Senate president.
The tweet, which has garnered over 3,200 views, read, “The Public Needs to get in Touch with the Senate President. Retweet Immediately you see this and Follow This Account. – P.A to H.E on Media and Comm.”
Also on Wednesday, the handle later tweeted;
“An Open Door to The Youths. Drop your Suggestions, ideas and Innovations here in the reply. Be assured it will be screened and some will be at the doors of H.E The Senate President. Drop and Reweet. It should be peaceful – P.A To the Senate Pres. On Media and Comm.”
Another Twitter account with the username @officialGAkpabio has made several posts claiming to be from Akpabio. The handle has garnered over 2,200 followers.
Verification
To verify the authenticity of the said Twitter accounts, the CDD War Room assessed the posts on the handles and found that they are parody accounts and not owned by the Senate President.
We found that the authentic Twitter handle of Akpabio is @Senator_Akpabio, with the name Godswill Obot Akpabio, CON.
Akpabio had on July 2, debunked the handle @sen_akpabio as a fake account, noting that it did not belong to him.
The media unit of the senate president’s office also issued a disclaimer on July 3, wherein it stated that Akpabio has only one Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.
“Any other account apart from these, are all fake. Please, disregard and dissociate yourselves from such requests for friendship and other engagements,” the statement partly read.
A parody/fake account
Parody accounts on Twitter and other social media platforms have long been a common occurrence, originally intended for humorous imitation. However, the misuse of such accounts for manipulation and deception raised concerns.
In November 2022, Twitter CEO Elon Musk issued a warning, stating that accounts engaged in impersonation without a clear parody label would be permanently suspended without prior notice.
In light of this, it is important to note that the accounts impersonating the Senate President lack a clear parody label, indicating that they are not intended for humorous imitation but rather for deceptive purposes. These fake accounts aim to manipulate and deceive the public, and their prevalence has been on the rise, further exacerbating the challenges of misinformation and online deception.
Verdict
The CDD War Room can confirm that the Twitter handles @sen_akpabio and @officialGAkpabio are fake accounts impersonating the Nigeria Senate President, with the intention to mislead the public. The authentic Twitter handle of Godswill Akpabio is @Senator_Akpabio.
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