THE public has been urged to disregard fake social media accounts in the name of former military president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida because he has none.
An aide to the former military leader, Salman Yusuf, advised Nigerians to beware of fraudsters using the name and picture of the former military president to send wrong signals in the name of politics.
Yusuf said this yesterday in Minna, the Niger State capital.
Several social media accounts had emerged recently in Babangida’s name, commenting on various political issues.
But Yusuf said Babangida could not have sent those messages since he does not operate any social media account.
“Our attention has been drawn to a plethora of fake social media accounts, especially Facebook, bearing General Babangida’s name and photos. We wish to state that IBB has never owned nor operated any social media account, and he does not intend to operate any now or in the near future.
“The surfeit of Facebook accounts bearing his photos and names are fake. The fake accounts are the creation of identity thieves and cyber fraudsters, local and international, who steal the identity of prominent people to defraud, misinform and commit heinous crimes against Nigerians and foreigners alike,” Yusuf said.
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Saying Babangida does not comment on national issues on social media, his aide added, “That is absolutely unnecessary because there are official channels available to him to communicate his stand on any national issue to the authorities.”
Yusuf added that the retired general has access to several credible mainstream media that he can talk to whenever he wants to discuss any issue.
He appealed to the general public to ignore the “warped imaginations and antics of cyber criminals who do not mean well for the country.”
A reporter with the ICIR
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