The official website of the Nigeria Police Force has been inaccessible after a group of Internet activists compromised its database on Thursday.
The group, known for hacking repressive governments’ websites, earlier announced its decision to attack federal government agencies’ websites in solidarity with the protesters clamouring for the reformation of the police and a total disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) or any other look-alike.
The group of “hacktivists” has no face, and no leadership. Its motto is simply “we are anonymous.”
In the past few days, many Nigerians have shared their horrendous experiences in the hands of operatives of the police unit ranging from extra-judicial killing to extortion.
Several protests have also been staged across major cities in the country while social media has gone wild with protesters trending the #EndSARS hashtag.
Although the unit was disbanded on Sunday and replaced with the new Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) on Tuesday, Nigerians have refused to stop the protests.
“#SARS special police force unit in Nigeria kills innocents. Today 20 more people lost their lives including anons. #Nigeria gov oppression and killings should stop.
We are #Anonymous.
Expect us. #OpNigeria engaged.
#AnonDown,” the group announced to its over five million followers on Twitter.
Before the announcement, the group of hackers lent its voice to the #EndSARS protest with a couple of tweets.
Meanwhile, after it hacked into the police website, the group released documents containing names, addresses, contacts and account details of hundreds of police officers on a text storage website, pastebin.com.
Checks by this paper showed that the domain of the website has been suspended. “this Account has been suspended,” the query read.
The spokesperson of the police, Frank Mba, could not be reached for comments as his telephone was not reachable as of the time of filing this report. Moreso, he is yet to release any official statement on the latest development.
The group had carried out similar coordinated attacks in the United States, Israel, Tunisia, Uganda and other countries.
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