Jonathan:

Christopher Wylie, the whistle-blower at the heart of the Facebook data scandal engineered by embattled data analysis firm, Cambridge Analytica, told the British Commons Culture Select Committee, which is investigating fake news, that the data firm used the services of an Israeli private intelligence firm, Black Cube, to undermine the Nigerian elections in 2015 by spreading propaganda to demoralise voters.

According to him, SCL Elections, Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, had been involved in a project in Nigeria in 2015, which involved hacking the private information of Buhari, who was running for president.

He also claimed Aggregate I.Q (AIQ), a digital advertising, web and software development company based in Canada, had distributed compromising material – known as kompromat – and videos designed to intimidate Buhari’s supporters.

According to him, “The company utilised the services of an Israeli private intelligence firm, that firm is Black Cube. That has not been reported, although Channel 4 has undercover footage that they haven’t been able to put in the public domain of Alexander Nicks talking about the relationship with Black Cube.

“Black Cube, on the Nigerian, project was engaged to hack the now president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to get access to his private medical records and his private emails.

“Aggregate I.Q (AIQ) worked on that project. AIQ was handed material in Nigeria from Cambridge Analytica to distribute online. That’s distribution of kompromat and of incredibly threatening and violent video content, which I’ve passed on to the committee.

“The video that AIQ distributed in Nigeria with the sole intent of intimidating voters included content where people were being dismembered, where people were having their throats cut and bled to death in a ditch.

“They were being burned alive, there was incredibly anti-Islamic and threatening message portraying Muslims as violent. This is again…(interjects self). So you’ve got Aggregate I.Q which received 40 per cent of the vote leave funding (referring to the UK referendum on Brexit) also working on projects that involved hacked material, compromised and distributing violent videos of people being bled to death to intimidate voters and this is the company that played an incredibly pivotal role in politics here (UK).

“And so, something that I will strongly recommend to the committee is that they actually not only push the authority here but give them the support that they need in order to actually investigate this company and what they were doing in Brexit.”

But in a statement issued after the hearing, Black Cube said it has always operated within the law, reported UK’s Daily Mail newspaper.

Black Cube said: “Whilst we are flattered that we are seemingly being connected with every international incident that occurs, we will state that Chris Wylie’s testimony is a flagrant lie.

“We categorically declare that neither Black Cube, nor any of its affiliates and subsidiaries, have ever worked for, or engaged with, SCL, Cambridge Analytica, or any of their affiliates and subsidiaries.

“Black Cube has never operated in Nigeria nor has it worked on any project connected to Nigeria, and none of its employees has ever set foot in Nigeria.

“Black Cube will investigate this claim on a pro bono basis, and will reveal the truth and the motive behind Wylie’s defamatory lie.”

They also threatened to sue Wylie.

The British press had reported last week that Cambridge Analytica was hired by an unnamed Nigerian oil billionaire to work on the re-election campaign of then president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and was paid an estimated £2 million ($2.8 million) to orchestrate a “ferocious campaign” against Buhari, then leading opposition candidate at the time.

Buhari went on to secure a historic election win in 2015. Before that, however, Cambridge Analytica reportedly attempted to furtively use hacked personal emails of Buhari, which were provided by Israeli hackers.

Cambridge Analytica staff working on the Nigerian elections reportedly met the Israeli hackers at the firm’s London offices after which Alexander Nicks, the recently suspended Cambridge Analytica CEO, allegedly asked staff to search the hacked emails for damaging information to be used against Buhari.

But “alarmed” staff members refused to do so believing that the data was possibly obtained illegally.

For its part, SCL Elections confirmed that it was hired “to provide advertising and marketing services” for the Jonathan campaign but denied receiving or using hacked information during the campaign.

In the build-up to the elections, the Jonathan campaign notably focused on social media and public messaging questioning Buhari’s educational qualifications and also, contentiously, his health status, setting off intense rumours and speculation.

Credit: This Day