•Presidential aide wants PDP, Facebook, Cambridge Analytica to provide answers
•PDP Wants Probe Extended Into Buhari’s 2015 Campaign Funds
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By Omololu Ogunmade and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
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The federal government has set up what it described as an in-house committee to investigate an allegation that Cambridge Analytica, a United Kingdom-based data firm, was hired by a member of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to hack into personal records of the opposition party the All Progressive Congress’ (APC) candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, during the 2007 and 2015 electioneering campaigns.
The committee, according to a presidential source, would among others, investigate if the acts of the firm violated the laws of Nigeria or infringed on the rights of other parties and their candidates during the polls.
Affirming the move to investigate the firm’s activities in Nigeria during the 2007 and 2015 elections, a presidential aide, Garba Shehu said it is important for the former ruling party and both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook to clarify their positions on the weighty allegations levelled against them. He also stated that investigating the matter would assist in determining if there was a linkage between various killings and maimings that had characterised Nigerian elections since 2007, adding that such move would also be helpful to Buhari in his wish to leave a legacy of improved elections.
Immediately weighing in on the setting up of an in-house probe by the federal government, the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded that an open and independent inquest devoid of government control, be conducted not only on the Cambridge Analytica saga but also on the source of funds for the President’s 2015 campaign so that Nigerians will know the truth.
The party said the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Federal Government are chasing shadows in their desperate plot to implicate the opposition in the alleged hacking into the personal record of its Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
Cambridge Analytica was alleged to have swiped the data of more than 50 million Facebook users to sway elections in many countries including Nigeria, where it was allegedly hired by an oil billionaire PDP member to perpetuate a campaign of discord and hack into personal records of Buhari, who is now the incumbent president.
The presidential source told journalists in Abuja at the weekend that the outcome of the investigation would determine whether a special investigator would be appointed and criminal prosecutions subsequently initiated by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami on the matter.
A whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, who worked with a Cambridge University academic to obtain the data, had reportedly told the Observer, a UK newspaper, that in carrying out their nefarious acts, they exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles and built models to exploit what they knew about such persons and “target their inner demons.”
Cambridge Analytica reportedly worked with Israeli hackers “to get dirt on Muhammadu Buhari during the presidential campaign.”
Reports further said SCL Elections, a public relations firm which later became Cambridge Analytica, manipulated Nigeria’s 2007 polls by organising campaigns to weaken the chances of opposition parties through “anti-election rallies†to demoralise supporters of opposition parties from voting in the 2007 elections won by the late Umar Yar’Adua of the then ruling PDP.
The Cambridge Analytica team reportedly came up with a video to portray Buhari as a leader who would enforce Sharia Law in Nigeria with the intention to sway the minds of millions of Nigerians to vote for the PDP candidate.
Speaking on the investigation, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said although he had not been briefed on the matter, the former PDP administration needs to provide answers to Nigerians immediately while Facebook and Cambridge Analytica also need to answer questions on how and why they improperly obtained and used the data to interfere in Nigeria’s elections.
According to him, investigating the matter would assist in determining if there was a linkage between various killings and maimings that had characterised Nigerian elections since 2007, adding that such move would also be helpful to Buhari in his wish to leave a legacy of improved elections.
Meanwhile as the federal government decides to set up an in-house probe to look into the allegations,the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded that an open and independent inquest devoid of government control, be conducted not only on the Cambridge Analytica saga but also on the source of funds for the President’s 2015 campaign so that Nigerians will know the truth.
The party said the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Federal Government are chasing shadows in their desperate plot to implicate the opposition in the alleged hacking into the personal record of its Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
The party said while it welcomes an open investigation into the Cambridge Analytica saga, it demands that such inquest is extended to cover the sources of the looted funds used to prosecute President Buhari’s campaign in 2015.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, on Sunday, said the APC is merely seeking to divert public attention from its manifold failures and scandals, as it is already public knowledge that neither the PDP nor any of its officials or members were ever linked or indicted in any way, in the said saga.
“It is also 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,” it said.
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