APC website publishes plagiarised manifesto, party says it was hackers’ work

- A plagiarised manifesto was published on the official website of the ruling APC

- The ruling party, however, said its website was hacked,

and had taken it down for maintenance

A website belonging to Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress, www.apc.com.ng, has published a plagiarised manifesto on its website.

According to The Guardian, the first paragraph of the power supply section of the party’s Next Level agenda published the party’s website showed remarkable similarities to the content published on several other websites.

“Assertively pontificate long-term high-impact testing procedures wiProgressively synergize timely action items and business “outside the box” thinking. Distinctively foster best-of-breed markets before collaborative schemas. Authoritatively embrace tactical potentialities vis-a-vis low-risk high-yield architectures. Completely administrate robust testing procedures vis-a-vis dynamic testing procedures. Globally fabricate functional intellectual capital for B2B e-services,” the supposed APC manifesto reads in part.

READ ALSO: UPDATE: CCT confirms CJN will be arraigned on Monday over non-declaration of assets

The newspaper notes that the section begins with the statement, “Our first priority is keeping America safe and secure,” implying that the content was copied and not edited before it was published.

According to whois.net, the website was first registered on February 7, 2013, and was updated on February 7, 2018, according to whois.net.

The official registrant of the website is listed as All Progressives Congress, its admin named as Shola Erogbogbo and contact email address is listed as info@apc.com.ng.

The billing name of the website as All Progressives Congress, billing address is 16, Bissau Street, Zone 5, Abuja and the sponsoring registrar is Web4Africa, a South African information technology company, according to whois.net.

The Guardian notes that although the website listed in the Twitter bio of the official Twitter handle of the party is officialapcng.com, it was, however, not working when it checked on Saturday morning. When visited, the site redirected to a download option for an unnamed folder, the newspaper states.

However, shortly after news of the published plagiarised manifesto broke out, the APC national publicity secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, released a statement that the party's official website, apc.com.ng, has been hacked.

Issa-Onilu said the alleged hackers had posted unauthorised content on its pages and that steps are being taken to strengthen security on the site.

“Our attention has just been drawn to the fact that the APC’s official website, apc.com.ng has been hacked with unauthorised content posted on our pages," Onilu said in the release.

“I have instructed that the site be taken down. Steps are underway to clean it up, strengthen the security, and restore it as soon as possible.

“We won’t allow the desperate people to succeed in their evil plots."

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

When Legit.ng visited the website at the time of reporting this story, there was an inscription stating: "Our website is under maintenance.”

Below is a screen grab of the website during the period it was reportedly shut due to alleged hacking:

Corroborating the APC spokesperson’s claim, The Guardian states that a media website developer confirmed that the website may have been hacked or the server has a malware.

“It is very possible that site has been hacked or that server has a malware attack,” Elijah Bello said.

Bello also suggested that it is possible that someone might have been hired to create a new website but not handling it properly.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better.

BUSTED: Professional Hacker Nabbed Over Fraudulent Purchase of N28million Porshe | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng