FG Monitors Nigerians’ Facebook, Twitter Accounts

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 PUNCH have shown.

PUNCH 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 PUNCH 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.

PUNCH correspondent reports 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.
—PUNCH