The British government has been accused of spying on the former president of the country, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and some other prominent Nigerians.
This was made known in a report released by a French daily afternoon newspaper, ‘Le Monde’ who in conjunction with an online new platform, ‘The Intercept’ published the findings of a whistle blower, Edward Snowden.
According to the publication, the British government in its surveillance targeted top citizens in the world including the director of the World Trade Organization, multinational corporations, heads of state across Africa amongst others.
The publication further revealed that the British government took interest in other top Nigerians including the chairman of the United Bank for Africa and CEO of the Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, former president Yar’Adua and his secretary.
The report said: “GCHQ spied on the employees of two major telecommunications companies – the Southn African firm MTN and Kuwait-based Zain. The agency focused in particular on “roaming managers” working for the companies in at least 15 African countries,” including Gabon, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Congo, and Mali.
“The NSA systematically monitors telecom company employees’ emails with the explicit purpose of collecting roaming documents, which it describes as “necessary for targeting and exploitation.” In other words, roaming managers are not spied on because they are suspected of wrongdoing or because they are of political or economic interest; rather, they are merely viewed as a means to an end.”
The publication also revealed that Edward Snowden listed other top Africans including the former Ghanaian president, John Kufuor, Ernest Koroma, the former Sierra Leone leader, businessman and Kenya’s most flamboyant tycoon as described by Forbes in 2011, Chris Kirubi amongst others to be on the British government’s watch list.