The Defense Headquarters (DHQ) has confirmed that its official X account was compromised and warned Nigerians to disregard any suspicious or unauthorized posts on the platform.
The Director of Defence Information, Major General Samaila Uba, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, describing the incident as a cybersecurity matter.
The warning followed the appearance of a series of cryptocurrency-related posts on the account that were unrelated to the Nigerian Armed Forces’ activities.
One of the posts, which remained on the account for several hours, promoted a cryptocurrency reward scheme and urged users to check their alleged “Firelight FXRP rewards”.
The post read: “Check your Firelight FXRP rewards: #ZdGN0G
“Firelight has opened Early Contributor Rewards with full protocol launch — a dedicated allocation of protocol emissions paid in FXRP. Addresses that accumulated Firelight Points from active support before the launch snapshot hold a fixed claim proportional to their points. The contributor claims portal is live now.”
The posts were still visible on the DHQ account when Pilot News conducted checks on Sunday morning, raising concerns about the potential use of the military’s platform to spread fraudulent or misleading information.
The DHQ said it had activated technical measures to secure the account and prevent further unauthorised access, while efforts were ongoing to regain full control.
“The Defense Headquarters wishes to inform members of the public, the media, and all stakeholders that it has detected a compromise of its official X (formerly Twitter) account,” Uba said.
“The incident is currently being treated as a cybersecurity matter, and appropriate technical measures have been activated to secure the account and prevent further unauthorized access.”
Uba said the military was working to fully restore control of the account and urged members of the public not to rely on suspicious messages posted through it.
“The Defense Headquarters assures the public that efforts are ongoing to fully restore control of the official account. Consequently, members of the public are advised to disregard any suspicious, unauthorized or misleading content that may be posted from the account during this period,” he said.
The DHQ said it remained committed to protecting the integrity of its communication channels and ensuring that information released about military activities was accurate and credible.
“We appreciate the understanding and vigilance of the public and will provide further updates as necessary,” Uba added.
The military urged Nigerians and the media to rely on its other official platforms for verified information while the X account remains compromised.
These include the Defence Headquarters Nigeria Facebook page, its Instagram account, @defenceheadquarters, and its official WhatsApp Channel.
The affected X account, which has close to one million followers, is routinely used by the military to communicate information on security operations and other activities of the Armed Forces.
The DHQ did not disclose when the account was compromised, the identity of those responsible or whether any other military systems had been affected.
The military advised the public to remain vigilant and avoid clicking on links, sharing posts or acting on information published from the affected account until the DHQ confirms that control has been fully restored.
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