FG monitors Nigerians’ Facebook, Twitter accounts

AUGUST 16, 2015 : ADELANI ADEPEGBA
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President Muhammadu Buhari
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, findings by SUNDAY PUNCH have shown.
Our correspondent 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 to our correspondent 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.
Our correspondent learnt that 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.”
It was also learnt 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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