A white man 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 Twitter handle of the ruling All Progressives Congress to him for $2,000.
A rabidly 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 the information available on Mr Justin Sun’s available 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 said.
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.
This is his last tweet today, Saturday, April 14, 2018:
The controversial Twitter handle supposedly sold to Justin Sun looks like this:
Justin Sun’s verified Twitter handle looks like this:
In response, the National Publicity Secretary, All Progressives Congress, Nigeria, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, has taken to an unverified Twitter handle, reportedly his official account to deny the alleged ruling party’s Twitter account, saying @APCNigeria that goes with Justin Sun’s controversial Twitter handle isn’t the official Twitter account of the ruling party.
Here’s Bolaji Abdullahi’s tweet to that effect:
Bolaji Abdullahi@BolajiAbdullahiFor 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.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have continued to react to the claims and counter-claims.
See the various responses:
Philip Obin✔@PhilipObin
@APCNigeria has been hacked. Efforts to recover it ongoing. Kindly disregard any tweets posted on the account. Any inconvenience is regretted. Cc @Twitter @TwitterSupport @TwitterSupport @jack
Makanjuola@SavageZayneHow the fuck did you manage to buy the official twitter account of the ruling party of the most populous black nation for $2000? I don’t believe you.
You hacked this account.
Engr. Adamu Hayatu™@AHayatuIt serves them right, this hack or whatever is timely and necessary. You hand party to people that belongs in museum. Zero official presence on social media.
Lets enjoy the tragicomedy.
Mr sun @APCNigeria, please buy us all and turn us into Bitcoins.
Mr Stanley Nwabia@MrStanleyNwabiaSeems @APCNigeria Twitter handle has been handed over directly to Buhari to manage.
Gimba Kakanda✔@gimbakakanda
What happened to APC’s handle @APCNigeria? Hacked, sold or what?
Fat Belly ‘Nenye@The_NenyeThey’ve sold the @APCNigeria handle for $2000 .
Waiting for when they’ll sell Nigeria to Canada so we can all move there.
A Facebook user, Viola Ifeyinwa Okolie claims that APC had a big fight with the person managing their Twitter account.
“They disowned him publicly last week but apparently were too clueless, as usual, to realise that they should have taken control of the account before disowning him,” Ms Okolie wrote.
In the interim, the ruling All Progressives Congress does not seem to have an official Twitter handle for now.
Posted by Juliet Ekwebelam (Punch)
