The Federal Government has set out to begin investigating the claim that Cambridge Analytica hacked President Buhari’s medical records in a lead up to the 2015 elections in a bid to discredit him.
Recall that Cambridge Analytica was in the middle of the huge scandal involving Facebook in which they were accused of accessing the information of millions of accounts in a bid to influence elections.
The scandal hit close to home as it was reported that a Billionaire friend of President Goodluck Jonathan had engaged the services of Cambridge Analytica to try and influence the 2015 election.
This had led to the alleged hacking of Buhari’s record and a propaganda video which showed Buhari as a dictator who would force Nigeria to become an Islamic state and kill many innocents.
According to the Punch, the FG have now set up a committee to investigate these actions and demand answers.
The US and UK have also been written to in hopes that more clarity is provided into the matter.
The Federal government has set up the in-house committee to investigate just how far the firm’s work for the PDP interfered with the 2007 and 2015 general election campaigns and whether in the process laws of the country were broken.
The Punch reports that a source conversant with the work of the committee said;
“You will recall that when the news broke, the government set up what we called an in-house committee to investigate the matter.
“The last I heard about that committee was that they have written to the US and the UK for more information on what happened.
“I am yet to find out if those countries have responded and the stage which the committee is now.”
Special Assistant to President Buhari, Garba Shehu had earlier said that though he had not been fully briefed on the matter, it was his opinion that Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the PDP should come forward and explain their roles in the scandal.
He said; “Nigerians deserve answers immediately from the PDP administration, Facebook and Cambridge Analytica on how and why they improperly obtained and used data to interfere in Nigerian elections.
“An investigation should help to determine if there is a linkage between the various killings and maimings that have characterised our elections since 2007 and the misinformation activities of the Cambridge Analytica data flows.
“Such investigations will also help President Buhari to achieve his wish to leave a legacy of improved elections.”