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From all indications, Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is rejigging its platforms on the Internet, ranging from its websites to its social media handles.
TheNewsGuru reports Twitter erupted in confusion on Saturday after Spokesman of the party, Bolaji Abdullahi disowned the party’s supposed official account, @APCNigeria.
For the upteenth time, @APCNigeria IS NOT the official Twitter handle of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In several official statements, we have disclaimed that handle. We view this latest development as a case of criminal impersonation.
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— Bolaji Abdullahi (@BolajiAbdullahi) April 14, 2018
This is following reports that the account was ‘sold’ as reported in some quarters in the media or hacked as TheNewsGuru.com verifiably reports.
Today, Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Bashir Ahmad further disowned the @APCNigeria Twitter handle and revealed the party “is now officially on Twitter”.
“Our great party, the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) is now officially on Twitter. Kindly follow @OfficialAPCNg. Also on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube,” he tweeted.
When TheNewsGuru assessed the various Internet platforms of the ruling party, findings reveal that the APC is actually moving platforms, which includes a new domain name registration that has one Ololade Otayemi as registrant.
TheNewsGuru findings reveal that Mr. Otayemi, who operates Orbra I.T.C. located in Lokogoma, Abuja registered the www.officialapcng.com domain name on Monday 9th April 2018.
The first tweet on the APC new official Twitter handle dated Tuesday 10 April 2018, and the first post on the party’s new official Facebook page dated Sunday 8 April 2018, confirm the new domain name registration, and efforts the party is putting in to rejig its Internet platforms.
The APC official website is being hosted on a German server by Softlayer Technologies Inc, and efforts to reach Olalade to confirm the findings repeatedly returned: “The MTN number you are trying to call is currently switched off; please try again later” as at the time of filing this report.
The party’s Instagram handle, created today, is presently having 29 followers; and while the new Twitter handle is having 22 followers, the new Facebook page is having 106 page likes.
In a phone conversation with TheNewsGuru.com, the manager of the APC former Twitter handle, Phillip Obin, confirmed the account was hacked and not sold.
“The account was hacked, but I am currently engaging Twitter to help restore it… we have gotten an assurance that the challenge will be sorted out soonest” he said.
According to a tweet from the hacker, the account was reportedly sold for ‘$2k’. The hacker also went ahead to post tweets relating to the sale and purchase of bitcoins.
A Twitter user who goes by the name Justin Sun on his Twitter handle is alleged to have claimed that someone he identified as “Nigerian president” sold the official @APCNigeria Twitter handle to him.
A rapidly circulating tweet with suspicious verified Twitter handle, “Justin Sun @APCNigeria,” shows one Mr. Justin Sun threatening to reveal all the correspondences between him and a supposed president of Nigeria if his demands were not met.
In the Tweet allegedly posted at 7.52pm on Saturday, April 14, 2018, Justin Sun, who resides in San Francisco, state of California, USA, asked to be paid $100,000 for him to shut up about how APC’s Twitter handle became his personal possession.
The trending tweet supposedly by Justin Sun reads: “If the president of Nigeria does not pay me $100K, I’ll post all the correspondence here, and the whole world will see it.”
According to information available on Mr Justin Sun’s verified Twitter handle, he is the founder of Tron Foundation and he is one of Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs and the First Millennial Graduate of Hupan University Founded By Jack Ma of the Alibaba Group.
“Justin Sun graduated from Hupan University as the program’s first millennial graduate. Sun received his diploma from Principal Jack Ma and updated him on the latest developments at #TRON. Sun also expressed his gratitude towards Principal Jack Ma for his unwavering support. #TRX,” another information on Justin Sun’s Twitter handle read.
Suffice to say, a perusal of Mr. Justin Sun’s official Twitter handle showed that his last post was seven hours ago, and he seemed to be unaware of the controversies surrounding his Twitter handle.
Meanwhile, the @APCNigeria Twitter handle has undergone several metamorphic processes since it was taken over, whether hacked or sold.