The recently ended week-long strike and protests brought to
the fore, various forms of agitations by Nigerians yearning for good
governance, including hacking of websites, reports REMMY NWEKE.
Most Nigerians woke up on Sunday, January 1, 2012 to behold what
has been largely tagged as President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s alleged
‘greek-gift’ of fuel subsidy removal, which from Monday, January 2, have kept
the nation tensed up with one protest or another over the fuel pump price
increase from N65 to N141 per litre.
It follows that on Wednesday, January 4, the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) held a meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) to take a
position, while various civil society groups continued protests; both
coordinated and uncoordinated. And at the end of the NLC meeting, it was
resolved that since the Federal Government decided to inflict pains on Nigeria
as her New Year gift, Nigerians under the Labour and Coalition of Civil Society
Organisations would equally embark on literally total strike, which eventually
commenced on Monday, January 9, this year.
Between January, Monday 9 and Monday 16, when the strike was
called off after the two-day stay at home order by NLC and CSO groups; to
enable Nigerians restock, the week-long strike left the nation counting losses
of millions of Naira, which according to Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria lost about N300bn based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
estimate, that is, before President Jonathan reduced the pump price early
Monday morning from N141 per litre to N97.
Although, the strike created some brisk businesses for some
too, others used the opportunity to express themselves, mostly on lack of good
governance that has eluded the country since independence in 1960 till date;
including lack of social amenities like pump-borne water, electricity, good
roads, and healthcare to name a few.
One thing that surfaced during the strike-week was the
unveiling of some talented Nigerians such as the release of ‘Hear The Voice’ by
new entrant Aduke, who could not but qualify as a youth-activist among others.
Equally of note was the fact that some Nigerians under the
aegis of NaijaCyberHactivists joined forces to literally bring down some
notable websites in the country, especially those belonging to the Federal
Government ministries, namely the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
and Nigerian Army Education Corps (NAEC); in effort to occupy Nigeria
institutions online, while those protesting occupy their vicinities and
streets.
Technologically speaking, a hacker refers to a contentious
term used in computing for several types of persons, while computer security
experts see those hackers as crackers, who access a computer system by
circumventing its security system, even as some described them as hobbyist who
make innovative customizations or combinations of retail electronic and
computer equipment, yet there are those who know them as ‘programmer
subculture,’ who share an anti-authoritarian approach to software development
now associated with the free software movement.
Also, Webopedia, an online encyclopedia described a hacker
as a term used for a computer enthusiast, that is, a person who enjoys learning
programming languages and computer systems and could often be considered an
expert on the subject(s). Among professional programmers, depending on how it’s
used, the term could be either complimentary or derogatory, although it is
developing an increasingly derogatory connotation than complimentary.
Equally, word experts at Webopedia, noted that the
pejorative sense of hacker is becoming more prominent largely because the
popular press has co-opted the term to refer to individuals who gain
unauthorized access to computer systems for the purpose of stealing and
corrupting data. While hackers, themselves maintained that the proper term for
such individuals remain crackers and not hackers.
Investigations carried out by ITRealms Online during the
week-long fuel pump price protests showed that hackers were on rampage by
occupying Nigerian businesses, especially Federal Government institutions
websites online and even some private media stations, in sympathy of the
populace following the sudden removal of fuel subsidy by President Jonathan.
Although, ITRealms Online gathered that by the week-ending
January 13, 2012, NAFDAC website, http://www.nafdac.gov.ng/ was restored, while
that of EFCC, www.efccnigeria.org remained inaccessible for a little longer.
Whereas, additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to
use an Error Document to handle the request being displayed on the website ever
since last Friday when the EFCC website went live with the news that the likes
of telecom business mogul, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and others were allegedly
arrested.
Also, ITRealms Online gathered that sooner than it was
hacked, officials of EFCC denied the arrest of these businessmen, alleging that
its website was hacked.
Further investigations by ITRealms Online revealed that on
Thursday, January 13, 2012, NaijaCyberHactivists had stated through social
media, Twitter; that EFCC would be occupied for unwillingness to give the
Nigerian people justice. The call to occupy EFCC was for not bringing the
suspected cabals among the oil importers and corrupt politicians in the country
to book, which was a popular demand online and throughout the protest across
the country.
“The AYES have it. EFCC’s website goes down officially at
exactly 2pm tomorrow with an #OccupyEFCC chatbox on it,” the NaijaCyberHactivists
wrote in one of their Tweet handles.
In what started with a question from NaijaCyberHactivists on
a motion: Should EFCC’s website be occupied for mis-information & lack of
will to prosecute the cabals? Aye or Nay? The majority of followers on
NaijaCyberHactivists affirmed to the temporary occupation of EFCC website.
ITRealms Online recalled that the hackers lived up to
promise by occupying EFCC site with that notice, following the alleged
announcement by the Commission for arresting and detained some 21 executive
directors of oil-chip firms for defrauding the nation over fuel subsidy.
The former Head, Media & Publicity Unit, EFCC, Mr. Femi
Babafemi was purportedly reported as saying in a press statement dated January
13, 2012 that those arrested were in response to fuel subsidy scam.
He also alleged to have said that operatives of EFFC had
detained at the weekend the managing director of CONOil, Otunba Mike Adenuga,
who also is the executive chairman, Globacom and three others.
These comprised of his counterparts at African Petroleum
(AP), Mr. Femi Otedola, MRS Oil, Mr. Sayyi Dantata and Mr. Adewale Tinubu who
is the Group Chief Executive of Oando plc
to name a few.
Equally, Babafemi was reported to have disclosed that some
senior officials of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)
and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), “who defrauded the nation
several billions of Naira” were also in EFCC net.
He was further alleged to have said that in total, “21
executive directors have been detained in all and at the moment being
interrogated over fresh information that they allegedly stole fuel subsidy
funds,” even as he promised to release more information later.
This was further strengthened by the fact that some media
organizations who rushed to the press with the phoney story, especially online
medium to announce the arrest have since yanked the announcement off their
websites.
Although it was rumoured that the said Mr. Babafemi
Babalola, may have resigned from the employ of EFCC as at January 12, 2012.
However, EFCC since Friday denied the reported arrest of Adenuga and co.
Speaking on this development, the Publicity Secretary of the
Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Emeka JP Obegolu told ITRealms Online that as
much as Nigerians are entitled to peaceful protest within the law, hacking of
website is a cybercrime and legitimate protesters are not welcome, advising
those hackers to avoid criminality as a way of protest.
For the Vice President, Nigeria Internet Registration
Association (NIRA), Mr. Sunday Folayan, hacking is simply cyber-terrorism,
wondering if those websites were professionally done. He insisted that in a
matter like this, “Never negotiate with terrorists, in whatever sphere.”
Reacting to the development, the group chief executive of
Teledom International Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem lamented the fact that hacking
is a cybercrime and Nigeria is still yet to conclude on her cyber security law.
Ekuwem, who was the immediate past president of Association
of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), also decried that certain
Critical National Information Infrastructure have not been classified,
describing these state as sad, even as he noted that without adequate law in
place it would be difficult to criminalize hacking of any website in the
country, let alone those belonging to the Federal Government.
“Do we have a cybercrime and cyber security law in place?
No! Sad! Have we designated our Critical National Information Infrastructure?
No! Sad! There is no law yet that criminalizes the hacking of FG or any web
sites. Pity!” he lamented.
And for the chief operating officer, NIRA, Mr. Ope Odusan,
who urged online business owners in the country to take time out to know their
web hosting companies.
“I recommend that website owners adopt a Know Your Hosting
(KYH) company and demand their security programme for Distributed Denial of
Service (DDoS) attack,” he advised, explaining that DDoS is an attack where
multiple compromised systems, which are usually infected with a Trojan; are
used to target a single system causing a Denial of Service (DoS) attack.
But trying to justify the hacking of MDAs, one of the
protesting Nigerian youth who gave his name as Hareem, said the hacking of
government institutions website was a very good way of communicating
protesters’ message loud and clear to the government. Mostly “if they don’t
still understand what is going on.”
The bottom-line is that as much as protest is a fundamental
right where it is allowed, there are some criminal activities that could emerge
in the cause of such a protest which may not be justifiable in the face of law,
especially cyber law, where one exists.
With this development, it’s imperative for Nigeria through
the Ministry of Communications Technology to invest in this by getting the
cyberlaw for the country, at least within the tenure of this current minister,
Mrs. Omobola Johnson and Jonathan-led presidency before 2015.
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