The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has denied claims that Adeniran Adeyemi, statistician-general of the federation, was invited for questioning by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The development comes amid the release of a controversial report on ransom payments in Nigeria.
On December 17, the NBS published its crime experience and security perception survey.
The bureau, in the report, said Nigerians paid N2.23 trillion as ransom in one year between May 2023 and April 2024.
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Less than 24 hours later, the website of the statistics agency was hacked.
Checks by TheCable on Wednesday revealed that the landing page of the agency’s website — www.nigerianstat.gov.ng — displayed “Page hacked” on a white background.
Media reports on Thursday had claimed that Adeyemi was called in by the DSS for interrogation on the methodology and data used in the report, which claimed that ransom payments had reached alarming levels, sparking national and international reactions.
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But Ichedi Sunday, head of communications at the NBS, said the “report is not true”.
According to Sunday, the statistician-general was never called by the DSS for interrogation.
“I can authoritatively say the reports are not true,” he said.
“I was with the statistics-general up until late last night yesterday when the news broke out and there was no call from the DSS. Other platforms had called me and I told them it is not true. I also spoke to him (Adeyemi) today.
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“So this is not true. I don’t know why the wrong information is still being published.”
Meanwhile, efforts made by TheCable to confirm the allegation from the DSS were futile.
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