The battle for Osun State has taken a dramatic turn days before the August 15 governorship election, with the Accord Party accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) of allegedly harbouring “election hackers” in a hotel in Osogbo.
Key Highlights
- Accord Party has accused the APC of allegedly harbouring election hackers in a hotel in Osogbo.
- The party claimed the alleged hackers planned to manipulate electronic election results and INEC’s digital systems.
- APC dismissed the allegation as false and baseless, challenging Accord to report the matter to the police.
- Accord has called on security agencies and INEC to investigate the claim and strengthen election cybersecurity.
- The allegation has added fresh controversy to the August 15 Osun governorship election.
The explosive allegation, contained in a statement issued on Saturday by the Accord State Chairman, Victor Akande, claimed that individuals allegedly brought into Osun from Lagos and Abuja were operating from the hotel with plans to compromise the Independent National Electoral Commission’s digital systems.
According to Accord, the alleged hackers were preparing to manipulate election results electronically and upload fabricated figures into INEC’s server.
The party called on security agencies to immediately investigate the claim and raid the hotel, identified as GMT Hotel, as well as other locations allegedly being used as operational centres.
Accord also urged INEC to urgently strengthen its cybersecurity infrastructure ahead of the election, warning that any attempt to manipulate the poll electronically would be resisted.
The allegation has, however, triggered a fierce response from the APC, which dismissed it as “false and baseless.”
The APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, challenged Accord Party to report the alleged hackers to the police if the party had evidence, rather than making what he described as frivolous accusations.
According to Olabisi, the APC has no reason to rig the election because its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, is confident of defeating incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke at the polls.
He accused Accord Party of spreading the allegation out of fear of losing the election, describing the alleged hacking operation as a product of the imagination of its opponents.
But Accord Party has refused to back down, insisting that the alleged cyber threat should not be ignored and demanding that security agencies act before election day.
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The development has injected a fresh layer of controversy into an already heated Osun election, with both parties trading accusations as the countdown to August 15 intensifies.
Although 14 political parties have been cleared by INEC to contest the election, the race has increasingly centred on Adeleke of Accord and Oyebamiji of the APC.
With allegations of an alleged attempt to compromise election technology now flying between the two major contenders, attention is turning to INEC and security agencies to establish whether there is any substance to the claims and ensure that the credibility of the election is not undermined.
For now, neither Accord Party’s allegation against the APC nor the existence of an alleged hacking operation at the hotel has been independently established.
