APC dismiss DSS allegations of plan to hack INEC database

Reacting to allegations of a plan to hack the database of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has accused the DSS of unprofessionalism and shamelessness in the discharge of its duties. He noted that in the course of investigations, the service detained party members including women and had their legs tied while depriving them of food for days before coming out with claims that confessions had been obtained from them. He described this as a disgrace to the DSS and accused the body of conniving with the ruling party to discredit the opposition and distract them.



‘’First, the DSS and the PDP said the APC was cloning Permanent Vot­ers Cards at the raided office, without a shred of evidence. Now, after a ‘painstaking’ investiga­tion, the DSS has found out that the APC was only planning to inflate its membership data and then hack into INEC’s database. And this is the outcome of its massive, months-long investigations?

‘’This would have been funny if it were not from a primary domestic intel­ligence agency saddled with a great responsibil­ity. Can this wishy-washy report stand any serious scrutiny? Can any seri­ous intelligence-gathering agency anywhere else in the world take this report seriously? With these kind of findings, one can now understand why Boko Haram has continued to strike at times and places of its own choosing without any prior knowledge by our all-powerful DSS.”

The APC scribe noted that ‘’Even the presentation of the report by a poorly-trained and highly-politicised spokes­person of the DSS wors­ened the so-called findings. Why would the spokesper­son of a national agency sound like a megaphone for the ruling party, freely castigating the opposition spokesman and ‘a number of uninformed members of the public’? Why does she have to go personal in pre­senting a report that sup­posedly is in the national interest?

“We have always warned that our democracy is in clear and present danger, not just from desperate politicians, but also from institutions of state that have compromised in their roles and resorted to crass lawlessness. The DSS’ ‘find­ings’ today have given us another reason to repeat this warning.