Atiku Is Relying On Whistleblower Website To Prove His Case In Tribunal Spokesman Reveals

Atiku Abubakar would partly rely on an anonymous website holding documents purportedly obtained from internal computers of the Independent National Electoral Commission to prove his case of election fraud at the tribunal, his spokesperson has said.

Mr Abubakar formally approached the tribunal at the end of last week to make his case of widespread irregularities and manipulation of votes against the INEC and President Muhammadu Buhari.

Amongst the grounds for which Mr Abubakar sought to be declared winner of the election was a claim that internal compilation of results by INEC showed that the Peoples Democratic Party ‘scored’ 1.6 million votes more than Mr Buhari’s All Progressives Congress after all results had been collated from all but only Rivers, of the 36 states.

The claim has drawn widespread ridicule of Mr Abubakar, and some pro-APC commentators online accused the PDP candidate of ”walking himself into a hacking trap”.

They accused Mr Abubakar of admitting to unauthorised access of INEC data, an act considered criminal by under the Cybercrime Act, 2015.

Paul Ibe, a spokesperson for Mr Abubakar, shrugged off the criticism and accusation by sharing a link to a website purportedly built by a rogue INEC official.

The website was emblazoned on its front page with ‘The Truth Cannot Be Hidden’, and additional messages said it was put together by an INEC official who felt Mr Abubakar was cheated by the commission in declaring Mr Buhari winner of the election.

“What is in the public domain cannot be hacked. To hack is to breach defences & exploit weaknesses in a computer system or network. For your info, this is the site hosting the data submitted by Atiku & PDP. If you know, you know,” Mr Ibe said in response Yekini Nabena, a spokesperson for the APC who had posted one of the typical attacks against Mr Abubakar.

Mr Ibe then shared the link to ‘Facts Don’t Lie Nigeria’ website.

The website contained external links holding PDF files, including screenshots of alleged INEC computers and voter accreditation data.

Mr Abubakar’s lawyers, who recently boasted that they had enough evidence to overturn the presidential election in their client’s favour, have said they would call in forensic experts to analyse the information published on the anonymous website at the tribunal, alongside other materials from INEC.