The Accord Party in Osun State has raised an alarm over an alleged plan by suspected hackers linked to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to compromise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s digital platforms ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
The party urged INEC and security agencies to strengthen their cyber defences and investigate an alleged operation it claimed was being coordinated from a hotel in Osogbo.
The allegation was contained in a statement by the Osun Accord chairman, Victor Akande, on Saturday. He alleged that hackers recruited from Lagos and Abuja had established an operational base in the state capital with the intention of attacking INEC’s website and manipulating electronically transmitted election results.
Akande said the alleged objective was to compromise INEC’s electronic systems and introduce fabricated results into its server.
He said, “We are calling 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.”
He also called on security agencies to investigate the alleged hotel operation and other centres he described as illegal, warning that any attempt to manipulate the election digitally would be resisted.
READ RELATED NEWS UPDATES
Osun APC says Tinubu endorsement won’t decide Osun poll
Accord Party drops 2027 presidential bid, backs Tinubu for second term
Accord Party backs Otti for second term, rules out governorship candidate in Abia
The allegation comes as political parties intensify preparations for the poll, and now the contest is already attracting competing claims over electoral integrity.
The APC, however, dismissed the allegation as baseless and accused Accord of attempting to divert attention from its own electoral concerns.
The APC Director of Media and Information in Osun, Kola Olabisi, said there was no truth in the claim that the party was harbouring hackers in a hotel in Osogbo.
Olabisi said, “The allegation that our party is harbouring hackers in a particular hotel in Osogbo is false without any foundation.”
He emphasised that the APC candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, was sufficiently popular to win the election without electoral manipulation.
He said, “Our party did not need to rig election before our candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, wins the election.”
Olabisi further characterised Accord’s allegation as a product of anxiety over the impending contest. He, this, urged the public to disregard it.
He said any party possessing evidence of an organised hacking operation should present it to the police rather than circulate unsubstantiated claims.
The competing positions place renewed attention on the security of INEC’s digital infrastructure as Osun voters prepare to elect their governor on August 15.
Neither the Accord allegation nor the APC’s denial establishes that any hacking operation exists. No evidence of the alleged plot was provided in the statements, and no action by INEC or the security agencies in response to the claim was disclosed.
