Former President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a stern warning to the public following the emergence of a fraudulent Instagram account that falsely purports to be his.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, on Thursday, Jonathan clarified that he has no official presence on Instagram. The statement, titled “Beware of Fake Instagram Account Impersonating H.E. Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan”, reads:
“Our attention has been drawn to a fraudulent Instagram account operating under the handle goodluck_ebelejonathan, which is falsely impersonating former President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. This impostor account has been deceitfully posting content, some copied from Dr Jonathan’s Facebook page, while pretending to represent the former President … Dr Jonathan does not operate any Instagram account. The media and members of the public are strongly advised to disregard, avoid sharing, or promoting any content originating from this fake profile.”
The public caution comes amid a wave of impersonation activity targeting Jonathan’s name across social media platforms.
Just two months ago, in June 2025, an Instagram post that appeared to be from the former president stirred speculation about a 2027 political comeback. The post featured a cryptic message suggesting that Nigeria’s current political leadership was “pretending to sleep,” accompanied by what appeared to be an AI‑generated image of Jonathan shaking hands with former US President Donald Trump.
However, Jonathan’s spokesperson swiftly debunked the post, reaffirming: “Former President Jonathan does not own an Instagram account”.
This latest impersonation incident underscores a disturbing trend of online account misuse, even parody accounts can get entangled in legal trouble, as past incidents have shown. In 2020, a university student who had created a Twitter parody account of Jonathan, clearly labelled as such, was detained for months before the charges were withdrawn.
More recently, in April 2025, another individual arrested for a similar parody account recounted experiencing brutal treatment, including detention in degrading conditions, despite indicating their account was satirical.
Jonathan, who served as Nigeria’s President from 2010 to 2015, is widely respected for his peaceful concession of power after losing the 2015 election, a first in the nation’s history. His team’s strong denials and precautionary measures reflect both the seriousness of the impersonation threat and the potential political ramifications in a fiercely contested digital age.
Members of the public and media organisations are therefore urged to remain vigilant and confirm official sources before sharing or acting on any statements purportedly from the former president especially on Instagram.
