Fact-Check: Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilization Posts Old DSS Image to Represent Rumoured Impeachment of Akpabio 

BY: Oluwaseye Ogunsanya 

Claim

Operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) takes over National Assembly to impeach Senate President, Godswill Akpabio 

Verdict

False. The image of DSS operatives used by Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilization is old and does not support the claim.

Full Text

Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilization, claimed in a post on X that operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) took over the National Assembly to impeach Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. 

Photo Credit: Screenshot of the claim/X

Order Paper had reported that “the precinct of the National Assembly appears like a warzone this morning as men of DSS have taken over amidst speculations of an impeachment move against Sen. Akpabio.”

The parliamentary monitoring organisation added that “speculations have swirled that some aggrieved Northern Senators, (allegedly dissatisfied with President Bola Tinubu, are reportedly reviving an earlier attempt to remove Akpabio from office.”

As of press time, the claim has gathered a considerable amount of engagements as it has also been posted by other reputable news platforms here and here.

FactCheckAfrica conducted this verification due to the questionable image attached to the claim. 

Verification

FactCheckAfrica observed that the rumoured impeachment of Akpabio was widely reported with the President of the Senate denying the invasion of the National Assembly by the DSS. 

According to PUNCH, the Senate thereafter referred the matter to its Committee on Special Duties, tasking the committee with investigating the origin of the false reports.

However, there were no images of DSS operatives’ presence at the National Assembly to support the claim. This led us to verify the attached image by Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilization using Google reverse image search. 

The search result indicated that it was one of the images of the DSS invasion of the National Assembly in 2018. Additionally, a 2022 factcheck report by AFP confirms this.

Photo Credit: AFP factcheck 

Conclusion 

Although the rumoured impeachment of the Senate President has been persisting, we can confirm that the image of DSS operatives used by Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilization is old and does not support the claim.