•Akpabio
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has denied a viral online video depicting him talking about free food and hard times as a malicious news item from a doctored video which was from a joke between him and his colleagues and not aimed at the public.
Akpabio who spoke through a statement issued yesterday by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, said the video has generated serious embarrassment to him and his constituents, adding that the doctored video has been circulating on social media and generating widespread negative reactions.
According to the statement made available to The Frontier, “the attention of the office of the President of the Senate, has been drawn to a malicious news item, published by the online platform of the highly revered and respected newspaper (name withheld by The Frontier) to wit: ‘WHENEVER YOU SEE FREE FOOD ENDEAVOR TO AVAIL YOURSELF, TIMES ARE DIFFICULT’.”
•The original video clip
Udom added that the quote attributed to Akpabio, was a video clip of the Senate President discussing with his fellow distinguished colleagues on the second day after his inauguration as the President of the 10th Senate.
“The doctored video clip as published… has been circulating on social media, generating widespread negative reactions. “However, a closer look at a longer version of the video, which (the newspaper) deliberately refused to publish reveals that it was completely taken out of context.
“The truth is that this video in question is not recent but dates back to June 14, 2023, a day after his inauguration as the President of the Senate when in his closing remarks informed his colleagues of a dinner organised in their honour and by a senator colleague and he jokingly told them to avail themselves of the free food as times are hard.
“The President of the Senate’s comment was not aimed at the general public as the doctored video circulated… makes it look. From our findings that version of the video was doctored and manipulated to mislead viewers, taking the Senate President’s words out of their original context,” he said.
Udom further stated that the said video had in the last 24 hours caused the President of the Senate and his constituents serious embarrassment, demanding that his “rejoinder be published and given same prominence that the doctored video was given, to put the record straight and assuage the minds of the teeming supporters, associates and admirers of the President of the Senate.”
