Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns over the recent claim that the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was hacked, calling the incident “suspicious” and suggesting it could be an attempt to undermine the credibility of the agency’s data. The NBS reported on Wednesday that its website, www.nigerianstat.gov.ng, had been compromised, advising the public to disregard any information posted there until further notice. The agency’s website displayed a “Page hacked” message, with the site still unavailable as of Wednesday evening.

The alleged hack comes just a day after the NBS published its Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) for 2024, revealing alarming figures about Nigeria’s security crisis. The report indicated that 614,937 Nigerians were murdered in one year, while over 2.2 million were kidnapped. It also noted that Nigerians paid a staggering N2.23 trillion in ransom between May 2023 and April 2024. Atiku, in a statement, linked the hack to the timing of the survey’s release, suggesting that it could be an attempt to discredit the data.

“The coincidence of this so-called hack coming shortly after the release of damning stats on security is suspicious,” Atiku said, adding that the claim was part of a larger pattern of “bad tidings” under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. He warned that politicizing data released by the NBS would be “counterproductive” and undermine the integrity of the statistics, which are vital for national planning, development, and research.

Atiku also expressed concern over the potential politicization of the NBS data, emphasizing that the agency’s reports should remain free from political interference. “These are strange times in Nigeria,” he said, hoping that the incident was not an underhanded attempt to tarnish the reputation of an essential public institution.