The official websites of Lagos and Kaduna State Governments were early Saturday morning allegedly attacked by Anonymous.
The hacker allegedly further shut down Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Amuwo Odofin Local Government in Lagos State.
The hacker, who tweets from @LiteMods, claimed responsibilities for the said attacks on the websites in support of protests against police brutality in Nigeria.
https://twitter.com/LiteMods/status/1317255037802942464?s=20
The latest cyberattacks were a part of coordinated attacks by hacktivists on Nigerian government-owned websites and social media accounts.
Hours earlier, the website of Nigeria’s central bank was hacked.
https://twitter.com/LiteMods/status/1317267721986387974?s=20
https://twitter.com/LiteMods/status/1317277361394585602?s=20
https://twitter.com/LiteMods/status/1317261161725833219?s=20
https://twitter.com/LiteMods/status/1317253586959650817?s=20
“Nigerian government, we will not allow this corruption,” the hacker tweeted late on Friday. “We will not allow this police brutality. Your websites of @officialEFCC have been taken-down so far by my attacks and more will be next.”
#Anonymous has taken down four major Nigerian websites. LOVE TO SEE IT! #EndSARS pic.twitter.com/vqBH3bl2wa
— Toyosi Godwin (@ToyosiGodwin) October 16, 2020
Protests broke out in Nigeria last week against police brutality, with thousands of young people calling for the scrapping of a Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a police unit that has been accused of committing crimes including murder.
The protests have drawn thousands of mainly young demonstrators onto the streets and online in the most concerted show of people power in Nigeria in years.
Crowd-sourced donations have poured in for the largely leaderless #EndSARS movement, supporters said.
One group, the Feminist Coalition, said it had received contributions worth more than $175,000 (150,000 euros).
The collective said it had paid legal fees and medical bills for injured protesters, donated to families of victims, and bought food, water and face masks for people at demonstrations.