On Friday afternoon, a post on X (formerly Twitter) went viral. This post, made by ‘Ibrahim B. Babangida’ with the username @General_Ibbro, mentioned a proposed military takeover and called for the federal government to come to the aid of Nigerians.
The tweet read, “I am not in support of the proposed Military take over; but I will urge the FG to come into Nigerians aid before it finally turns into a pandemic.”
In comments, some Nigerians expressed shock over the tweet. Some users wondered if there was an impending military takeover.
CLAIM: Babangida tweeted about a proposed military takeover.
As of Saturday morning, over 239,200 users had seen this tweet, 899 had reposted it and 2,900 had liked it.
The user had the name and image of Babangida, a Nigerian former head of state, who benefited from the 1985 coup d’etat against Muhammadu Buhari. Babangida ruled the country for eight years, until 1993.
The tweet also came six days after President Bola Tinubu warned the military against acts that could destroy the country’s democracy.
VERIFICATION: FIJ checked the user’s profile to confirm his identity and found that it was a parody account.
The user has over 85,000 followers and a profile that matches the former head of state, but the profile has the word ‘parody’ at the end.
This profile reads: “Fmr, Military Head of States; Federal Republic of Nigeria 1985 – 1993 || Rtd General || GCFR || Elder Statesman || Tweets are not signed – IBB PARODY”
User’s profile
FIJ checked X’s guidelines for parody accounts and found that this account ran foul of the rules.
The X help centre says of parody accounts: “Accounts that fail to sufficiently distinguish themselves are considered non-compliant and in violation of this policy. Account name: The account name should clearly indicate that the account is not affiliated with the subject portrayed in the profile.”
This user’s username does not contain any indication of a distinction.
VERDICT: The claim that Babangida tweeted about a proposed military takeover is false.