How The Nigerian Government Spies On Its People And Other African Nationals – Japheth J Omojuwa
The worst crimes ever committed by the best and worst governments in human history were committed in the name of National Security.
Of all the readily available excuses of government corruption and crack-down on individual and corporate liberty, national security has been the most potent. When President George Bush Jnr invaded Iraq in search of the so-called “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, the invasion was sold to the American public as being in the interest of the people of Africa because Saddam Hussein, according the American government, was a threat to the liberty of America and the free world.
Over the last decade, not only has Hussein died and nationals of several countries their peace in the ensuing war on terror, Americans have lost their own privacy. Long before the American Prism project revelations by Edward Snowden, Americans were subconsciously aware that their government was covertly invading their privacy. Snowden was only the confirmation of their fears. Nigerians and other Africans, especially West Africans need not have any doubts about the intention of the Nigerian Government.
Once the government completes its Internet Spy Device being built by Israel’s Elbit Systems in Abuja, the Internet and telecommunications activities of Nigerians in Nigeria, other nationals in the country, citizens and government officials of countries such as Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Senegal, Niger, Chad etc can rest assured that the Nigerian Government would have developed the capacity to effectively spy on all their modern forms of communications. The excuse for this Spy project is the government’s continued failure to stem the tide of terrorists especially in the country’s north-east zone. This is despite the government’s dedication of about N1tn to security every year.
Spying is not a new thing under Nigeria’s 14-year-old pseudo-democratic experiment. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly depended on spies to wade off potential coup attempts. International Security Consultants and Mi5 Security Consultants provided Electronic/Security surveillance and Intelligence for him too. The primary objective of this project was to intercept and decode communications amongst the service chiefs, top security officials, senior government functionaries and perceived enemies within and outside the President’s own political party, the Peoples Democratic Party. The next administration led by the late Umar Yar’Adua did not retain the services of these security consultants, but this did not prevent them from carrying out businesses for private interests in Nigeria so they stayed and continued to work in the country.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan eventually became acting president and was desperate for all the help he could get, especially in the area of security. He sacked Maj.- Gen. Sarki Murktar and replaced him with Gen. Aliyu Gusau as National Security Adviser. The idea of the Israeli security also came to the fore. Jonathan’s Chief Security Officer, Gordon Abua, reached out to Nigerians who had worked with Obasanjo to track down the Israelis. The Israelis were reached and eventually engaged by Jonathan’s team and have been working with him since his acting presidency days. It must be said though that while the Jonathan administration appears bent on spying on Nigerians and nationals within the borders of Nigeria’s neighbours, Internet surveillance had always been on the cards.
The Israelis, i.e. International Security Consultants and Mi5 Consultants, influenced the engagement between the Nigerian government and Elbit Systems, a globally renowned Israeli company quoted on the Nasdaq National Market as “ESLT” and on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange as “TASE.”
The engagement of Elbit Systems is more or less an expansion on the scope of spying already described above. While it was about strategic interests who could undermine the security of the government in power, especially the interest of the president, Elbit Systems will do more. It intends to spy on data generated from every form of electronic communication including but certainly not limited to emails, internet pages, social media networks, all forms of voice and data interception. This means that these Israelis will have us by the balls however you see it.
Never mind that the government is going about this the illegal way. The 2007 Public Procurement Act was flouted in the award of the Elbit Systems contract because there were no tenders for the contract whatsoever. The Bureau of Public Procurement was reportedly kept out of this. Only emergency situations like “natural disasters or a financial crisis” are open to single source contracts. This obviously doesn’t fall under the exceptions granted by Section 47 (3) (iii) of the 2007 Public Procurement Act. According to Elbit Systems, it will be paid $40m for the project but that leaves a gap in the budgetary allocation designed to accommodate the project. $61.26m was set aside in the budget for a “Wise Intelligence Network Harvest Analyser System, Open Source Internet Monitoring System and Personal Internet Surveillance System.” $21m remains unaccounted for.
An online platform, Premium Times, covered a lot of ground in investigating this project and it is fraught with all the irregularities that have since become the signature style of most of the projects under this administration. The Senate, being the more pliable of the lawmaking houses, has since passed the bill that allows for the government to invade electronic privacies of citizens into law. The House of Representatives is supposed to be investigating the contract in question but it appears even it has lost its way. As usual.
Why should all this matter to you? Why should it matter that the government can read your email exchanges with your wife? Why should it matter that your business dealings with local and international partners are going to be exposed to the NSA and the Gestapo-eque State Security Service? Is this the liberty we fought for when we demanded democracy?
Ghanaians, Ivorians, Burkinabes, Senegalese, Nigeriens and the likes must be concerned too. There is no saying that the Nigerian government would stop spying beyond Nigeria’s borders. The claims about this project being necessary to fight terrorism simply means that the government would work to monitor what goes on not just within its borders but beyond. This should concern you and you have a right to be assured by your government that you will be safe from Nigeria’s impending intruding eyes.
As for Nigerians, oppression has since become our norm. Those who fight it are the abnormal ones in our midst. We wonder why they take us for a ride. For 50 years, we have waited for the messiah and some of us are folding our arms expecting that messiah to come in 2015. We continue to drink from the same cup of delusion our rulers have been drinking from since 1960. While their own delusion intoxicates them and gives them an illusion of a Nigeria being transformed, our delusion gets us thinking we can change our country by just praying and hoping and doing nothing. For each liberty we cede to the government, we lose our freedom.We will eventually bequeath a country where our children are slaves in their own lands at this rate.
As a people we must stand up and say “No!” to this invasion of our privacy. Slavery has evolved since the 18th and 19th centuries; they needed chains to keep them at bay, today chains are not needed if the minds are shackled. Do not let this government get into your mind. That’s what we have left and that’s where they will get to if we let them spy into our privacy. Are we free people? If we truly are, we need to show it this once!
Author: Japheth J Omojuwa
Photo credit : www.salon.com
Of all the readily available excuses of government corruption and crack-down on individual and corporate liberty, national security has been the most potent. When President George Bush Jnr invaded Iraq in search of the so-called “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, the invasion was sold to the American public as being in the interest of the people of Africa because Saddam Hussein, according the American government, was a threat to the liberty of America and the free world.
Over the last decade, not only has Hussein died and nationals of several countries their peace in the ensuing war on terror, Americans have lost their own privacy. Long before the American Prism project revelations by Edward Snowden, Americans were subconsciously aware that their government was covertly invading their privacy. Snowden was only the confirmation of their fears. Nigerians and other Africans, especially West Africans need not have any doubts about the intention of the Nigerian Government.
Once the government completes its Internet Spy Device being built by Israel’s Elbit Systems in Abuja, the Internet and telecommunications activities of Nigerians in Nigeria, other nationals in the country, citizens and government officials of countries such as Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Senegal, Niger, Chad etc can rest assured that the Nigerian Government would have developed the capacity to effectively spy on all their modern forms of communications. The excuse for this Spy project is the government’s continued failure to stem the tide of terrorists especially in the country’s north-east zone. This is despite the government’s dedication of about N1tn to security every year.
Spying is not a new thing under Nigeria’s 14-year-old pseudo-democratic experiment. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly depended on spies to wade off potential coup attempts. International Security Consultants and Mi5 Security Consultants provided Electronic/Security surveillance and Intelligence for him too. The primary objective of this project was to intercept and decode communications amongst the service chiefs, top security officials, senior government functionaries and perceived enemies within and outside the President’s own political party, the Peoples Democratic Party. The next administration led by the late Umar Yar’Adua did not retain the services of these security consultants, but this did not prevent them from carrying out businesses for private interests in Nigeria so they stayed and continued to work in the country.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan eventually became acting president and was desperate for all the help he could get, especially in the area of security. He sacked Maj.- Gen. Sarki Murktar and replaced him with Gen. Aliyu Gusau as National Security Adviser. The idea of the Israeli security also came to the fore. Jonathan’s Chief Security Officer, Gordon Abua, reached out to Nigerians who had worked with Obasanjo to track down the Israelis. The Israelis were reached and eventually engaged by Jonathan’s team and have been working with him since his acting presidency days. It must be said though that while the Jonathan administration appears bent on spying on Nigerians and nationals within the borders of Nigeria’s neighbours, Internet surveillance had always been on the cards.
The Israelis, i.e. International Security Consultants and Mi5 Consultants, influenced the engagement between the Nigerian government and Elbit Systems, a globally renowned Israeli company quoted on the Nasdaq National Market as “ESLT” and on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange as “TASE.”
The engagement of Elbit Systems is more or less an expansion on the scope of spying already described above. While it was about strategic interests who could undermine the security of the government in power, especially the interest of the president, Elbit Systems will do more. It intends to spy on data generated from every form of electronic communication including but certainly not limited to emails, internet pages, social media networks, all forms of voice and data interception. This means that these Israelis will have us by the balls however you see it.
Never mind that the government is going about this the illegal way. The 2007 Public Procurement Act was flouted in the award of the Elbit Systems contract because there were no tenders for the contract whatsoever. The Bureau of Public Procurement was reportedly kept out of this. Only emergency situations like “natural disasters or a financial crisis” are open to single source contracts. This obviously doesn’t fall under the exceptions granted by Section 47 (3) (iii) of the 2007 Public Procurement Act. According to Elbit Systems, it will be paid $40m for the project but that leaves a gap in the budgetary allocation designed to accommodate the project. $61.26m was set aside in the budget for a “Wise Intelligence Network Harvest Analyser System, Open Source Internet Monitoring System and Personal Internet Surveillance System.” $21m remains unaccounted for.
An online platform, Premium Times, covered a lot of ground in investigating this project and it is fraught with all the irregularities that have since become the signature style of most of the projects under this administration. The Senate, being the more pliable of the lawmaking houses, has since passed the bill that allows for the government to invade electronic privacies of citizens into law. The House of Representatives is supposed to be investigating the contract in question but it appears even it has lost its way. As usual.
Why should all this matter to you? Why should it matter that the government can read your email exchanges with your wife? Why should it matter that your business dealings with local and international partners are going to be exposed to the NSA and the Gestapo-eque State Security Service? Is this the liberty we fought for when we demanded democracy?
Ghanaians, Ivorians, Burkinabes, Senegalese, Nigeriens and the likes must be concerned too. There is no saying that the Nigerian government would stop spying beyond Nigeria’s borders. The claims about this project being necessary to fight terrorism simply means that the government would work to monitor what goes on not just within its borders but beyond. This should concern you and you have a right to be assured by your government that you will be safe from Nigeria’s impending intruding eyes.
As for Nigerians, oppression has since become our norm. Those who fight it are the abnormal ones in our midst. We wonder why they take us for a ride. For 50 years, we have waited for the messiah and some of us are folding our arms expecting that messiah to come in 2015. We continue to drink from the same cup of delusion our rulers have been drinking from since 1960. While their own delusion intoxicates them and gives them an illusion of a Nigeria being transformed, our delusion gets us thinking we can change our country by just praying and hoping and doing nothing. For each liberty we cede to the government, we lose our freedom.We will eventually bequeath a country where our children are slaves in their own lands at this rate.
As a people we must stand up and say “No!” to this invasion of our privacy. Slavery has evolved since the 18th and 19th centuries; they needed chains to keep them at bay, today chains are not needed if the minds are shackled. Do not let this government get into your mind. That’s what we have left and that’s where they will get to if we let them spy into our privacy. Are we free people? If we truly are, we need to show it this once!
Author: Japheth J Omojuwa
Photo credit : www.salon.com
How The Nigerian Government Spies On Its People And Other African Nationals – Japheth J Omojuwa
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