A wave of misinformation rocked the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday following a viral social media report falsely claiming that, Senate President Godswill Akpabio had replied U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of possible military action against Nigeria.
The controversial post, published by an online platform, RANT HQ, alleged that Akpabio had openly rebuked Trump over accusations of Christian persecution in Nigeria, a claim the Senate President has flatly denied.
“Who am I to reply Trump?” Akpabio asked on the Senate floor, visibly irritated by what he described as a “malicious fabrication designed to discredit the Senate.”
According to Akpabio, the online report even used doctored photos from an unrelated 2023 Senate visit to Port Harcourt to lend false authenticity to the story.
“Somebody sits in the comfort of his room and manufactures lies with fake pictures, that’s not journalism,” Akpabio said. “It is an attempt to cause friction and drag the Senate into disrepute.”
The Senate President announced that he has formally petitioned both the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force to trace the origin of the false report, adding that his lawyers have been instructed to pursue legal redress against the blogger behind the post.
While Akpabio struck a cautious and diplomatic tone, his deputy, Senator Barau Jibrin, took a bolder stance, dismissing Trump’s warning and asserting Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“I’m not scared of Trump,” Jibrin declared. “We are a sovereign nation. I can speak my mind as a parliamentarian. No foreign leader can intimidate Nigeria.”
The exchange underscored a rare split in the Senate leadership’s tone on foreign relations measured restraint from Akpabio, and defiant nationalism from his deputy.
Akpabio, however, cautioned his colleagues and the public against the growing threat of misinformation on social media.
“Social media should not break Nigeria,” he warned. “Freedom of expression must not be abused to destabilize our democracy.”
He stressed that the Senate will only issue a formal response to Trump’s statement once the Federal Government outlines its official position.
“The Senate has not taken any position. We await the direction of the Presidency,” Akpabio concluded.
The incident has once again spotlighted the peril of fake news in Nigeria’s digital space — a problem Akpabio insists is “not just a personal attack but an attack on national stability.”
