The parent company of Cambridge Analytica boasted of its success in manipulating a Nigerian election by using religious leaders to suppress the vote, according to documents released on Thursday. The documents were released by Canadian whistle-blower Christopher Wylie to a committee of the British House of Commons. They include a promotional brochure by SCL Group, the British affiliate of Cambridge Analytica, which later worked with Canadian firm AggregateIQ in elections worldwide. nThe brochure suggests that SCL considered the option of bribing Nigerian voters to vote for the government, but decided that such “financial incentives” would be ineffective because the voters had so much contempt for politicians that they would simply take the money and mark their ballot for someone else.
SCL, which was working for the Nigerian government in the 2007 election, said it advised its clients that “a more effective strategy might be to persuade opposition voters not to vote at all.”
The company said it helped achieve this result “by organizing anti-election rallies on the day of polling in opposition strongholds.”
These anti-election rallies were “conducted by local religious figures to maximize their appeal especially among the spiritual, rural communities,” it said.
Full Article: Cambridge Analytica parent company manipulated Nigeria’s 2007 election, documents show – The Globe and Mail.
