The Twitter account of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was hacked as the #EndSARS protests continue in several locations in Nigeria.
In a tweet, the hackers said they are “Anonymous”.
But Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant to President Muhammad Buhari, said, “Twitter has helped take control of the hacked NBC account.”
When our correspondent visited the Twitter handle on Friday, @nbcgovng, the posts were in support of #EndSARS.
Posts on the Twitter handle showed that the last official post was made on October 15.
Around 12.00am, the hackers posted an image sensitising people about the #EndSARS protest with the official logo of NBC attached.
The hackers said their mission is to “expose the government’s secrets and dirty files”.
“#EndSARSBrutality #EndPoliceBrutalityInNigeriaNow – We #Anonymous Group Of Hackers will continue supporting the citizens of Nigeria. Expect Us – #Hacked,” the hackers announced.
They also asked Nigerians to suggest other government agencies’ websites they want to be hacked.
“Good morning, great Nigerians. TGIF and it’s also a good day to #ENDSARS and #EndSWAT. Which government website(s) would you want us to play with? #TwitterDown #NBChacked,” they added.
Though the handle is yet to be verified by Twitter, it had been used for official communication by NBC.
It was created in 2013 as “the Official Twitter Account of the National Broadcasting Commission – Nigeria’s Broadcast Industry Regulator. NBC… Your Right to Quality Broadcasting.”
At present, the handle has over 17,200 followers.
It was gathered that the Anonymous hackers had hacked into the database of a security agency in Nigeria.
Twitter, which is used by hundreds of #EndSARS protesters, went offline for almost two hours on Thursday.
But the company said there was no evidence that its security had been breached.
It marked a new setback for the company, which late Thursday altered its policies on hacked content after accusations of bias stemming from its decision to block a news report critical of Democratic White House candidate Joe Biden.
In July, prominent Americans including former president Barack Obama, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Tesla chief Elon Musk saw their Twitter accounts hacked.
In September 2019, Twitter experienced a brief but embarrassing attack: the account of its founder Jack Dorsey was hacked, and erratic and offensive messages were posted from it.
