Our security apparatus do not also seem to be immune from the politicking that turns nearly every initiative on its head because of the tribal, ethnic, religious and other sectional conflicts that dominate our polity as can be seen by the Umaru Yar’Adua saga and the recent sectarian crises in Jos.
They Are Spying on Us by Kingsley Omose
News that a team of Canadian researchers have for the past eight months been counter spying on a computer hacking operation being conducted by some Chinese who have been stealing sensitive and classified information from the Indian government across the globe seem far removed from our shores.
But going through the list of Indian government computer systems which have been compromised across the world by the Chinese hacking operation, I was surprised to find that the computer systems of the Indian High Commission in Abuja were amongst those breached by the hackers.
According to the news report in the New York Times of April 6, 2010 ”The researchers also found evidence that Indian Embassy computers in Kabul, Moscow and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and at the High Commission of India in Abuja, Nigeria had been compromised.
Also compromised were computers used by the Indian Military Engineer Services in Bengdubi, Calcutta, Bangalore and Jalandhar; the 21 Mountain Artillery Brigade in Assam and three air force bases. Computers at two Indian military colleges were also taken over by the spy ring”.
Implied in the news report is that the Indian government through its High Commission in Abuja has been able to accumulate classified and sensitive information about Nigeria that is of interest to the Chinese who rather than reinvent the wheel have decided to steal such information from the Indians.
It is not as if there is anything hidden in the way Nigeria conducts its affairs that cannot be obtained from the public domain especially from our print media who seem to have all sorts of insights regarding what is actually happening even in the bedrooms of our national and state leaders.
Our security apparatus do not also seem to be immune from the politicking that turns nearly every initiative on its head because of the tribal, ethnic, religious and other sectional conflicts that dominate our polity as can be seen by the Umaru Yar’Adua saga and the recent sectarian crises in Jos.
Even our Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, was said to be ignorant of the smuggling in of Umaru Yar’Adua back into Abuja and the deployment of soldiers who briefly took over the streets of the capital city during the ungodly hours of the night he was flown into Abuja.
More recently security presence in and around Jos and the imposition of a curfew did not prevent the systematic massacre of mostly women and children in three communities in Plateau State notwithstanding that the attackers in planning the attacks took the security operatives by surprise.
While our security organizations are caught up in a maze of politicking over whether the President comes from the North or South of Nigeria, or is Moslem or Christian, or that military men on duty in Jos are exhibiting tribal or religious biases, the Indians and Chinese are spying on us.
I suspect also that the Americans, Russians, Israelis, the European Union, the Arabs, and even the Africans are all spying on Nigeria probably waiting for the predicted disintegration of Nigeria that has been prophesied by the Americans.
They have probably drawing up likely scenarios and conducted simulations of what post-disintegrated Nigeria may look like and how they stand to benefit while we are locked in debate over whether our next President will come from the North or South of Nigeria.
A house divided cannot stand and while many have been quick to condemn the Libyan strongman Col. Ghaddafi for proposing the breakup of Nigeria along religious lines, he probably was acting on intelligence reports from the Libyan Embassy in Abuja regarding the possible disintegration of Nigeria.
Utterances from politicians and religious leaders regarding the possible consequences for not adhering to the power rotation principle of the Peoples Democratic Party, and on why Goodluck Jonathan cannot become substantive President only lend credence to the fears that the nation may self destruct.
With militants in the Niger Delta watching with keen interest unfolding developments as they apply to Goodluck Jonathan, the race to Aso Rock in May 2011 is lined with enough bobby traps to fulfill the American prophesy.
So who can blame the Indians and the Chinese and other interested nations who seem to love Nigeria more than Nigerians love their nation, and who to ensure they are not taken by surprise are busy spying on us from within?
“We must be the change we want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi