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The Accord Party in Osun State has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of harbouring suspected election hackers at a hotel in Osogbo ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
According to reports from Punch News, the party called on security agencies to investigate the allegation and arrest anyone found to be involved.
The allegation was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by Accord State Chairman Victor Akande.
Accord claimed it had received credible information that individuals brought into the state from Lagos and Abuja were operating from a hotel in Osogbo and allegedly planning to compromise the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) digital systems and manipulate election results.
The party urged INEC to strengthen its digital infrastructure and cybersecurity measures ahead of the poll. It also called on security agencies to inspect the hotel and other locations where it alleged illegal activities were taking place.
“The hackers were brought in from Lagos and Abuja and they have set up an operational center at the hotel. Their target is to compromise the INEC electronic system to impute fake election results into the INEC server.
“The party called on the electoral commission to firm up its digital system and strengthen its ICT security in the face of cyber threats from the opposition APC.
“We also call on security agencies to raid the GMT hotel and other illegal centers to stop the ongoing anti-democracy activities,” the statement read.
The APC dismissed the allegation as false and baseless, saying it had no need to rig the election because its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, was confident of winning.
Osun APC spokesperson Kola Olabisi accused Accord of making the claims out of fear of losing the election and advised the party to report any evidence of hacking activities to the police.
The APC said the allegation was an attempt to damage its reputation and insisted that there was no hacker operation linked to the party in Osogbo.
The release partly read, “The allegation that our party is harbouring hackers in a particular hotel in Osogbo is false without any foundation, and there is no basis for that.
“It is an attempt to lower the esteem of our party in the eyes of the right-thinking members of society. Our party does not need to rig any election before our candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, wins the election.
“It is the fear of losing the election that is haunting the Accord Party functionaries who are peddling the information. It is nothing but a figment of the imagination of those peddling the rumour. There is nothing like that. If they are sure that we are harbouring any hacker, the right place for the Accord Party to go is the police.”
Accord, which is fielding incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, and the APC, whose candidate is former National Inland Waterways Authority chief executive Bola Oyebamiji, are among the leading contenders in the August 15 poll.
INEC has cleared 14 political parties to participate in the election.
