A new investigation carried out by the Punch reveals that the
Federal Government has been monitoring the social media accounts of
Nigerians who are suspected of having links with various terrorist
groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq.
It was learnt that through covert operations, which have been going
on for a while, security agencies hack into the Facebook and Twitter
accounts of those they are monitoring. The move, it was learnt, was
meant to frustrate terrorist attacks on the country.
The project, which is costing the country millions of dollars, is being managed by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Multiple sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorised to inform the press about the security checks,
stated that the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan
approved the request by security agencies to spy on targeted sections of
the population, mainly religious extremists and radicalised
individuals.
It was gathered that the project is being coordinated by some
foreign firms, including an Israeli firm, Elbit System. Also, the local
espionage involves hacking of phones, email accounts, social media
accounts and bugging of telephone conversations of persons of interest.
A source said, “The surveillance system is not being used to
target everyone, as people may want to believe. It is only deployed to
get intelligence on specific targets because it would be hard and
difficult to use such system to spy on all Nigerians; the amount of data
would be too huge and staggering for the assessors to sort and manage.
“Basically, the system is used to hack into emails and phones
of targets, and the targets are those who are suspected of having ties
with terrorists, whether Boko Haram, ISIS or any other criminal
element.”
Further investigations say that the system had greatly assisted
security agencies to nip in the bud and also frustrate many terror plots
and attacks across the country.
The security agencies had been using electronic trackers, which
they were used to track and apprehend kidnappers. But it was learnt that
the electronic surveillance system is more effective and has better
capacities to hack emails, passwords and social media accounts used by
terrorists to recruit members.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, confirmed that
security agencies were using a sophisticated surveillance system as
part of measures to combat crime and terrorism in the country.
He said, “It is not a new technology. Everywhere in the world,
it is used, including drones and other sophisticated equipment. Nigeria
is part of the international community; we have our surveillance system,
which shows that Nigeria is developing.”
Ojukwu said the security agencies respect the rights of Nigerians
and were not using the system to hack the phones and computers of
innocent Nigerians.
The Department of State Services could not be reached for information on their use of the surveillance system.
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