The Cambridge Analytica scandal which initially seemed far removed from Nigeria, hit home when it was revealed that the company had also tried to tamper with the Nigerian Presidential election in 2015.
In a special report first broken by the Guardian UK, Cambridge Analytica, hired by friends of former President Goodluck Jonathan tried to tamper with the election and even allegedly hacked into Buhari’s records in a bid to discredit him.
They had even done a video in which Buhari was depicted as a totalitarian leader who would destroy Nigeria.
The video was released by the Guardian and in it the APC and Buhari are shown as absolute monsters who support Sharia and would damage Nigeria significantly.
A whistleblower by the name of Christopher Wylie, blew the lid off this secret, telling British members of parliament (MPs) that the video was distributed in Nigeria with the sole intent of intimidating voters.
Giving testimony, Wylie said; “Cambridge Analytica sent AggregateIQ the video after they [CA] got banned from several online ad networks because the graphic nature of the content violated the terms of service. AIQ was quite freaked out about it. It’s a very disturbing video. They told Cambridge Analytica that. They called it ‘the murder video’.”
The video in itself was shot in a Hollywood trailer style with a voice asking Nigerians what they expect from Buhari and then depicting scenes of violence and suggesting that Buhari will strike deals with Boko Haram and force women to wear veils and so on.
You can see the video below