The Federal the government has set up an in-house committee to investigate whether Cambridge Analytica’s worked for the then Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2007 and 2015 general elections campaigns, broke the laws of the country or infringed on the rights of other parties and their candidates, a Presidency source said.
At the moment, the government is reportedly scrutinising the reports of the data mining firm, Cambridge Analytica, which allegedly swiped the data of more than 50 million Facebook users to sway elections in many countries, including Nigeria, where it was said to have waged a campaign to perpetuate discord and hack into personal records of the then leading opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
The source informed State House correspondents weekend that depending on the outcome, this may lead to the appointment of a special investigator and possibly, criminal prosecutions by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.
Recall that a whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, who worked with a Cambridge University academic to obtain the data, told the Observer, a UK newspaper: “We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on.”
Among those whose personal data was hacked into in 2015 was the then opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
Cambridge Analytica, according to the reports, worked with Israeli hackers who were instructed to get dirt on Muhammadu Buhari during the presidential campaign.
According to those reports, SCL Elections, a public relations firm that later became Cambridge Analytica, manipulated Nigeria’s 2007 by organising campaigns to weaken the chances of opposition parties.
As part of its engagement, the company organised “anti-election rallies” to demoralise opposition supporters from voting in the elections, which saw the emergence of Umar Yar’Adua as Nigeria’s president.
The Cambridge Analytica team came up with a video to portray candidate Buhari as a leader who would enforce Sharia law in Nigeria. It was intended to sway the minds of millions of Nigerians and vote for the PDP candidate.
Contacted on the issue, Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said that although he had not been briefed on the issue, Nigerians deserved answers immediately from the PDP administration, Facebook and Cambridge Analytica on how and why they improperly obtained and used data to interfere in Nigeria’s elections.
According to him,”an investigation should help to determine if there is a linkage between the various killings and maimings that have characterized our elections since 2007 and the misinformation activities of the Cambridge Analytica (CA) data flows. It will also help President Buhari achieve his wish to leave a legacy of improved elections.”
But the PDP in a swift reaction, said the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its federal government were chasing shadows in their “desperate” plot to implicae it in the alleged hacking into the personal record of its then presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
Reacting to to the issue last night, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its federal government are chasing shadows in their “desperate” plot to implicate it in the alleged hacking into the personal record of its then Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
The party said while it welcomed an open investigation into the Cambridge Analytica saga, it demanded that such inquest be extended to cover the sources of the looted funds used to prosecute President Buhari’s campaign in 2015.
“It is public knowledge that the document being relied upon by the APC clinically stated that there is no suggestion that Jonathan knew of the covert operation.
“We are, therefore, aware that this new agenda is to divert public attention from the various scandalous allegations hanging on the neck of the Buhari Presidency, including the use of looted funds, to finance his 2015 Presidential election, the Martin Luther Kings award saga, the damaging Bill Gates’ verdict on the Buhari’s economic policies as well as the numerous financial scandals in the NNPC under his watch.
“This inquest should, therefore, be completely open and independent of government control, so that Nigerians will know the truth, not only on the Cambridge Analytica saga, but also on the source of funds for the President’s 2015 campaign and other sleazes under his watch,” the party said.
