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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's main opposition party has condemned the State Security Service for raiding its Lagos office over the weekend.
The raid on the All Progressives Congress's data center and the arrest of 26 party workers disrupted work to register members across the country, Lai Mohammed said Monday. Mohammed said more than 50 security agents ransacked the office, carting away computer systems.
He called for an investigation to what he described as an "unprecedented action in the political history of our nation."
The State Security Service confirmed the Saturday raid, claiming that the opposition party's office was organizing fraud operations.
The state security charged that those working in the office were cloning voters' cards with the intention of hacking into date base of the Independent National Electoral Commission, said Nigerian security spokeswoman, Marilyn Ogar. Arrests were made, documents, bags and a computer hard drive were taken during the raid, said Ogar.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has not commented on the allegations.
The incident adds tensions ahead of the general elections in February.
Last week police fired tear gas at lawmakers from entering the National Assembly to prevent the members of parliament from debating the government's efforts to extent the state of emergency in three northeastern states. After that opposition members called for President Goodluck Jonathan to be impeached.
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Bashir Adigun contributed to this report.
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