Nigerian ex-president denies knowledge of hacking claims tied to Israeli firm
Goodluck Jonathan’s office says he was not aware of using Cambridge Analytica for campaign against current leader, after whistleblower says firm utilized Israeli company
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Nigerian former President Goodluck Jonathan “wasn’t aware” of any use of Cambridge Analytica by his party in the country’s elections, his spokesman said Thursday.
The Nigerian government is probing claims that Cambridge Analytica, a British-based political consultancy, illegally used Facebook data in past election campaigns for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and utilized in Israeli firm to hack an opposition candidate and discredit him.
In a press statement released Sunday, the Nigerian government said it was probing whether the firm broke the law to wage “a campaign to perpetuate discord and hack into personal records of the then leading opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari.”
The campaign also included “anti-election rallies” and a gory video depicting Buhari as an Islamic fundamentalist on a quest to enforce Sharia law in Nigeria, said the statement.
“He wasn’t aware of it,” spokesman Ikechukwu Eze said on Thursday, referring to former president Jonathan.
When asked about the probe, Eze replied: “The best thing to do is to wait for the conclusion of the investigation.”
Jonathan was elected president in 2010, losing to the present incumbent, Buhari, in 2015.
Buhari, who is Muslim, had run unsuccessfully for president three times previously, but was elected president in 2015 despite the alleged smear campaign against him.
According to Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who has testified claiming illicit activities by Cambridge Analytica, the firm had utilized the services of Israeli company Black Cube in trying to hack Buhari and waging the campaign against him.
Last month Wylie, the company’s former research director, testified before a House of Commons committee investigating the misuse of Facebook user data, revealing some of the other the shadowy activities the company was linked to.
He said the Tel Aviv-based company was hired to “hack the now-president [Muhammadu] Buhari to get access to his medical records and private emails.”
According to Wiley, Cambridge Analytica also contracted its subsidiary company, AggregateIQ, to use the data obtained by Black Cube to spread anti-Muslim videos on Facebook in an effort to damage Buhari’s presidential campaign.
In a statement to The Times of Israel, Black Cube insisted that it has “always operated within the boundaries of the law in every jurisdiction it operates,” and called Wylie’s testimony a “flagrant lie.”
The firm also denied it had any links to Cambridge Analytica or any of its subsidiaries, and has never worked in Nigeria. The statement added that Black Cube was “flattered that we are seemingly being connected with every international incident that occurs,” and vowed to investigate Wylie’s claims further.
Cambridge Analytica also swiftly denied any links to the Israeli firm, saying in a statement last month that it “has never worked with or been in contact with Black Cube in any capacity.”
Brexit connection
Regulators in Britain and the United States are investigating claims that Cambridge Analytica unlawfully used Facebook data for political ends in a mushrooming privacy scandal that has cast the spotlight on data protection.
The firm has been tied to electoral campaigns around the world, including for US President Donald Trump and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Times of Israel Community.