Federal Ministry of Information has restored the National web portal, www.nigeria.gov.ng, which was hacked by a cyber-attacker claiming to be protesting the recent law passed by Nigeria’s National Assembly against homosexuality.
The cyber-attack was carried out on Thursday by an Irish hacker who warned President Goodluck Jonathan to veto the bill that prescribes 14-year jail term for homosexuals.
According to the hacker, who called himself Paddyhack in a message he left on the website “nobody should live in fear of being jailed, when their only action is loving another consenting adult, regardless of gender.” He gave President Jonathan 72 hours to rescind the decision of the National Assembly or face more drastic actions from hackers.
The hacker threatened that, “failure to follow our order will unleash a torrent of fury aimed directly at the direction of your administration, starting with some startling but unsurprising evidence of corruption in your ranks.”
However, the Federal Ministry of Information announced on Friday that the government had restored the website, which is its official web portal.
Spokesperson of the Ministry, Joseph Mutuah, said the government had “fought off” the attack.
“The Federal Ministry of Information is taking additional measures to stem future attacks by hackers whose criminal activities are on the increase globally in recent times,” he wrote.
“The attackers were traced to the same group that recently attacked several countries’ government websites across the world, claiming to be fighting for gay rights. The attacks are a criminal attempt to blackmail countries which have resisted pressures by homosexuals to legalize gay marriages as is practised in some countries to do same.
“While we recognize that Nigeria is a full-fledged democracy with robust guarantee of freedom of opinion by all citizens, it is criminal for anyone within or outside our country to use criminal means to express or canvass such opinions! The Federal Ministry of Information will liaise with security agencies to investigate last night’s attack.”
It further described Nigeria as a highly cultured and religious society whose people remain overwhelmingly opposed to the imposition of gay rights and gay marriages as practised in some countries.
“Those seeking to impose gay rights from abroad are advised to stick to legal and constitutional means of expressing their opinions as government will not condone criminal violations of our laws by any group in the guise of promoting gay rights in the country,” it continued.
“Security checks have been stepped up on the National Portal to block all the loopholes exploited to launch last night’s attack.”
