By Pascal Ibe
Over 7,000 persons have continued to follow a parody X platform account that impersonates the suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, thorough findings by FACTWATCH Nigeria have revealed.
The X users had already believed this account, @@LangoMistake, is the authentic X handle of the Kogi Central Senator.
Reacting to a photo of Natasha and Abike Dabiri of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), which the poster claimed was a recent meeting, a concerned X user commented, “I thought @LangoMistake had been suspended by @NGRSenate, or am I missing something @abikedabiri? Kindly help clarify. @gr, ok plea,se what is the update or status Senator NatashAkpoti’sti suspension from thNigeriaia Sena?e.
Another X user who commented on the same post, wrote, “@LangoMistake My sister, whoever the enemy surrounds will always guard his or her life. I no talk say make you no work with whoever you like but remember person wey wan chop with devil go learn to carry a long spoon. A word is enough for a wise. 🙌
The photo of Akpoti-Uduaghan and Dabiri was subjected to a simple Google Image Reverse Search and results showed that the two met in February, not recently. This was an act of misinformation.
This indicates that the account handler fabricated and recycled old posts as recent and attributed them to Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
How the impersonator operate this parody account
Checks by FACTWATCH Nigeria indicated that this account @LangoMistake has been operating as the authentic and genuine X account of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
For instance, the profile picture, and the description of the account, alongside the over 7k followers, are enough to convince many people that the account is real.
It was also discovered that this account, @LangoMistake, mostly shares photos and stories of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to attract engagements from Nigerians as well as public support.
@LangoMistake published photos or videos of Senator Natasha with motivational captions. Check here and here.
However, this Fact Checker understands that these posts by @LangoMistake don’t align with recent credible news reports about the Senator.
Why is Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan in the picture recently?
The Senate had, on 6 March, slammed a six-month suspension on Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan based on the recommendations of its ethics, privileges, and public petitions committee.
The committee found her guilty of breaching the Senate rules following her conduct in the chamber on the day she rejected a new seat allocated to her.
She later accused Mr Akpabio of sexual harassment, though the senate president denied the allegation. She claimed she was being persecuted for making the allegation against him.
To add to her woes, some voters in the Kogi central senatorial district, under the aegis of the Concerned Kogi Youth and Women, submitted a petition to INEC in Abuja for her recall from the Senate.
In the petition addressed to INEC chairperson, Mahmood Yakubu, members of the group said they had lost confidence in Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s representation at the National Assembly and, therefore, asked the commission to commence the process of recalling her.
The petition, reportedly signed by over 250,000 registered voters out of over 480,000 total registered voters in Kogi Central, meets the required threshold of 50 per cent of registered voters needed to achieve a recall process.
INEC rejected the petition, stating that it didn’t meet the constitutional requirements.
Proof that this is a parody X account
First, this Fact Checker found another verified X account of Kogi Central Senator, @NatashaAkpoti, with over 49k followers. This is primary evidence that the Senator’s account has a verification badge and more followers than the parody account, @LangoMistake, with 7k followers.
Another proof is that reputable organizations in Nigeria have always either hyperlinked or made references to Natasha’s X account with the username @NatashaAkpoti. For instance, while reporting the altercation btween an activist, Oby Ezekwesiri, and Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, a Senator from Ebonyi State in March, TheCable hyperlinked Natasha’s apologies to the activist via her verified X account. This shows that the Senator’s verified account is more recognized than the other one.
Also, FACTWATCH Nigeria observed that Natasha’s verified X account is more coordinated with fewer posts than the parody account, @@LangoMistake.
Finally, the username of the parody X account, @LangoMistake, doesn’t anyway relate to Natasha’s official means of identification.
Conclusion
The X account with username @LangoMistake took advantage of Natasha’s recent popularity by attributing posts to the Kogi Central Senator to get more followers and engagements.
