Presidency has began scrutinizing 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.
The investigation is to determine whether the Cambridge Analytica’s work for the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in 2007 and 2015 general elections campaigns broke the laws of Nigeria or infringed on the rights of other parties and their candidates.
A presidency source informed State House correspondents at the weekend that an in-house committee has been inaugurated by government to carry out the investigation.
Government is also weighing the option of appointing a Special Investigator that may lead to criminal prosecutions by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, should the outcome show an infringement of Nigerian law.
Nigeria is said to be taking a cue from the British Information Commissioner’s Office, the United States Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the U K Electoral Commission who are also investigating the roles Cambridge Analytica played in the EU referendum.
Their action perpetuated discord, hacking into personal records of President Muhammadu Buhari, the then leading opposition candidate.
Cambridge Analytica, according to the reports, worked with Israeli hackers who were instructed to get data on Muhammadu Buhari during the presidential campaign.
The reports also revealed that “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.
Recall that Christopher Wylie, a Whistleblower, who worked with a Cambridge University academic to obtain the data, told the Observer, a UK newspaper that : “We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and targeted their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on.”
The company was reported to have 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 team came up with a video to portray Buhari, the then candidate as a leader who would enforce Sharia Law in Nigeria, an action that was intended to sway the minds of millions of Nigerians and vote for the PDP candidate.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu confirmed the development.
Shehu who indicated that he was yet to be fully briefed on the development, however said “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 Nigerian elections.”
He said an investigation should help to determine if there is a linkage between the various kilings 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.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
