By Taiwo Adeyemi

Senator Godswill Akpabio

Nigerian Senate President

Photo source: Premium Times

Claim: An X user shared a video of Nigerian Senate President, Godswill Akpabio visiting the opposition Social Democratic Party.  

Verdict: Misleading! The video first surfaced on the internet on 19th May, 2023 during Akpabio’s campaign for the office of the Senate President. 

Full  Text

Ahead of the 2027 Nigerian general election, some notable politicians have been defecting to another political party to be in vantage positions to contest or to influence eventual winners in the election. 

One of such politicians is Nasir El-rufai, a former Governor of Kaduna State and a founding member of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC. He defected to the opposition Social Democratic Party, SDP. 

El-rufai in a letter addressed to his ward Chairman in Kaduna State alleged that the ruling party, APC has derailed from the ideology of its founding fathers. 

This defection has been generating mixed reactions, Mr Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Policy said El-rufai’s defection is driven by inordinate ambition. 

On 11th March, 2025, an X user shared a video of the Nigerian Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Works, Dave Umahi,  Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin and Senator Ali Ndume and others in a meeting with the leadership of  the SDP with a caption “the  master strategist is there before you El-rufai.”

As at 15th March, 2025, over 140,000 users have viewed the video, over 800 likes, over 130 reposts, and over 100 bookmarks. 

The video has been generating mixed reactions, a user, Tunde Alobe @alobetunde said he has agents everywhere. 

“He has his agents in all the opposition parties causing trouble. God pass him sha”.

Another user,  sunny jossy @awoyelu replied that Tinubu is there. 

“Tinubu dey there waoo”. 

Engineer M. Jamiu Habeeb @habeebBHabib said he guess the video is old. 

“Old video, I guess!”

But is the video true? Due to the sensitivity of the footage, the researcher subjected it to scrutiny to ascertain its veracity.

Verification

The researcher used Google Reverse Image Search to verify some keyframes in the video.

The findings revealed that the original footage surfaced on the internet on 19th May, 2023 when Godswill Akpabio visited the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, as part of his campaign for the office of the Senate President. 

A screenshot of the original footage. 

Conclusion

Misleading! A video of the Nigerian Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and others visiting the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, is old. The original video was on 19th March, 2023 during his campaign for the office of the Nigerian Senate President, it’s not related to El-rufai’s defection.