Nigerian government has commenced an investigation into allegations that Cambridge Analytica hacked into the medical records of candidate Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2015 elections. A Nigerian billionaire and supporter of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was alleged to have paid £2m to the UK-based company to get information about Buhari, then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
"The government of Nigeria is scrutinising the reports of the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which swiped the data of more than 50 million Facebook users to sway elections in many countries including Nigeria, where it waged a campaign to perpetuate discord and hack into personal records of the then leading opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari,” a presidential source told newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.
CKN News gathered that the Buhari administration has set up an in-house panel to probe if the company’s work for the then government controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party violated the laws of Nigeria. The Presidency source further reveal that; the government had set up what he called an in house committee to investigate whether the firm's work for the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, in the 2007 and 2015 electioneering broke the laws of the country or infringed on the rights of other parties and their candidates.
"Depending on the outcome, it can lead to the appointment of a special investigator and possibly, criminal prosecutions by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN)" the Presidency official added. When contacted on the matter, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said he had not been briefed on the issue. Shehu, however, said it was the rights of Nigerians for the PDP, Facebook and Cambridge Analytical to explain their roles in the matter.
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