By Kester Omu
A cyber security expert, Mr. Remi Afon has raised the alarm that the 2019 general election may be compromised, going by the nefarious activities of cyber criminals and the proliferation of fake news in the country.
Afon, who is also the President of the Cyber Security Expert Association of Nigeria, raised the alarm while speaking to Journalists on the sideline of the Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference, held at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Lagos two days ago.
According to him, going by the revelations that people were influenced using the alleged Cambridge Analytical campaign, where the email of the email of the then All progressive Congress (APC)’s Presidential aspirant, Muhammedu Buhari was said to have been hacked in prelude to the 2015 general election, there is a strong signal that the 2019 election will be compromised.
He disclosed that a lot of fake news and malicious campaign is presently going on among politicians just to discredit their opponent. “As we move to 2019, a lot of politicians will use unemployed youths to help them spread malicious information. Hacking of email and exposure of several classified information will happen. This is the new trend and it is not going to abate,” he noted.
Afon wants the Nigerian government to be proactive and in investing in infrastructure that will ultimately help in taming the hacking into the country’s voting systems. “We are already in an election year. The need to act now is urgent,” she said.
