Buhari intensifies spying that may escalate abuse of human rights
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Security agencies now have direct access to the data of 73 million Nigerians enrolled with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), ostensibly to catch criminals, but also handy to abuse innocent citizens, especially government critics.
For example, the database has been used to violate the rights of EndSars protesters and Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore, to name just a few.
Some EndSars protesters in October 2020 were trailed and their bank accounts frozen on the trumped-up charge they were enemies of the state. Some are still held in detention.
Sowore announced in January this year that all his forms of identification – passport, voter card, national identity card, and driver’s licence – have been deactivated on the national biometric database on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sowore can no longer use any of these identification for any transaction in or outside Nigeria, a violation of his basic human and democratic rights. He was not convicted of any crime in court before Buhari stripped him of his identification.
Communications and Digital Economy Minister Isa Pantami said Buhari has granted security agencies access to the NIMC database and his office through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has conveyed the approval to the agencies.
He explained that the access would enhance security as it would help security operatives to go after kidnappers and other criminals.
“Some of the security institutions, based on the cybercrime law, are allowed to gain access to the database without coming to us because the database allows for lawful intercept.
“That lawful intercept was allowed in order to support our security agencies,” Pantami disclosed on the sidelines of LEAP 22, a technology event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Mr. President has given an approved for them to do it, without even our intervention. So, with that approval, the NCC has conveyed that through my office to all the relevant institutions that the President has granted an approval for that.
“So, with it, they can gain access into the database even without our permission, and they have never complained to me, even for once.
“The only person that wrote a letter to me is the Minister of Defence, asking that we should try to finish the NIN-SIM policy on time.”
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NIMC database
The NIMC holds the biometrics of over 73 million Nigerians who have linked their National Identity Number (NIN) with their mobile phone Subscriber Identification Module (SIM).
“If you look at the circumstances, NIMC is doing very well. Before my coming, what NIMC captured was just about 40 million, but now over 73 million have been done.
“We have achieved over 30 million within one year, while 40 million was achieved from 2007 to 2020,” Pantami said, per reporting by The PUNCH.
“Secondly, about NIN-SIM registration, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the NIMC are not security institutions.
“We are a sector for economic development but we came up with the policy because the priority of the government is security and it is a constitutional obligation of any government.
“It is in the 1999 Constitution as amended, Section 14 Subsection 2, Article B, it is our responsibility.”
Buhari explains purpose of NIN
Buhari had in Abuja explained the use of NIN at the launch of the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in Nigerian Telecoms Sector and Revised National Identity Policy for SIM Cards Registration.
“The NIN will cover one of the weaknesses in our security structure. We will be able to easily identify and know the personality of Nigerians. We will identify people easily, including the crooks,” he said.
StatiSense, a Nigerian data consulting firm, says 5,287 people were kidnapped in the country in 2021.
But Pantami lamented that despite the 73 million NIN-NIMC database, no security agency contacted the NCC for information to help track down kidnappers in the past six months.
His words: “I was in the Federal Executive Council media team presentation last week and these same questions were also asked.
“I said to them, this is what we have been doing for security and the EVC/CEO of the NCC was next to me, just like now, and I asked him if there was any time that any security institutions contacted the NCC to provide details of anyone of which he failed; he said ‘no’. He said it had never happened since I became a minister.
“Secondly, in the last six months, did they ever contact you to provide any information of which you failed to do so? He said ‘no’. So, in the last six months, no one contacted us.”
Pantami said some security agencies recently got approval from Buhari to bypass the NCC and the ministry and access the NIMC database directly.
Such “lawful intercept” is allowed in order to support the security agencies, he added.
Activists criticise misuse of database
Activists under the aegis of the Revolutionary Socialist Movement (RSM) have condemned the deactivation of the identification documents of Sowore, who is also leader of Revolution Now Movement.
“We are shocked by the recent bizarre attack on him by the Buhari regime: Mr Omoyele Sowore’s passport, voter card, national identity card, and driver’s licence were deactivated on the country’s electronic biometrical system!
“Sowore can no longer use any of these cards for any transactions within or outside the country. This is an outrageous attack and a gross violation of most basic human and democratic rights,” RSM Publicity Secretary Salako Kayode said in a statement.
“This attack is another one out of many that have been carried against him since his arrest in August, 2019.
“These attacks include: restricting him to Abuja for over two years now; sponsoring thugs to attack him at court premises on different occasions; even firing shots at him as was the case in May last year when a police officer shot at Sowore during a protest at Unity Fountain; the list is endless.
“Now they’ve essentially ‘de-citizenised’ Sowore.
“It appears that the Buhari regime and its cohorts have forgotten they’re elected and must be answerable to opposition voices.
“What is becoming clear is that they are determined to try to crash every opposition voice, every activist who raises their voice against the regime, for human and democratic rights, and in the interests of the laboring masses, the youth, and the poor.
“This attack affects all progressive forces in the country. Pressure must be mounted to force the regime back.
“It is a matter of defending everybody’s democratic rights, everyone’s right to criticise and fight against the policies that serve the rich and the corrupt elite against the interests of the people.
“The attacks against Mr Sowore are an additional manifestation of a failed state and a jittery regime that is terrified of opposition voices, particularly amongst the youth.
“This is an attempt to terrorise people who want to fight against the regime, to scare people away from fighting against Buhari’s tyranny.
“RSM calls on all progressive forces to act now. We must end the filibuster in the political space and attacks on activists during protests.
“We must work towards a better Nigeria that’s free from corruption, abuse of office, and poverty; where peace, justice, and equality shall reign.”