Investigative platform WikkiTimes has suffered multiple attacks on its website by hackers.
SaharaReporters learnt that over 400 attacks were launched against the website within 48 hours.
Speaking to SaharaReporters, the platform’s publisher, Haruna Mohammed Salisu, lamented the development and explained how the hackers had been trying to pull down the website.
“The hackers have been crawling the website. We have suffered over 400 attacks in 48 hours, and this is unprecedented,” he told SaharaReporters.
A visit to the website WikkiTimes.com shows that the platform is currently offline.
WikkiTimes has published stories focused on the northern region of the country. At various times, it has exposed poor accountability within the Bauchi State government.
Its publisher, Haruna Mohammed Salisu, has received threats several times due to the kind of stories the platform publishes.
In 2024, Haruna and a platform reporter, Yawale Adamu, faced criminal charges over a report on corruption. The case involved businessman Abdullahi Abubakar and a Bauchi, Mansur Manu Soro lawmaker.
More recently, social media skit maker Bello Habib Galadanci, known as Dan Bello, alleged that Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, leader of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS), was involved in a multi-million-naira contract scam.
In a viral video obtained by SaharaReporters, Dan Bello claimed that he, in collaboration with the Bauchi-based investigative news platform WikkiTimes, uncovered significant financial irregularities tied to Lau and companies allegedly linked to JIBWIS.
JIBWIS, in a statement released in Hausa and posted on its Facebook page, quickly dismissed the allegations, describing them as false and misleading. The group accused Dan Bello of spreading misinformation to tarnish its leader’s reputation.
Dan Bello alleged that Sheikh Lau is connected to over 30 bank accounts and was involved in questionable financial transactions between 2021 and 2023.
He cited a specific case from December 19, 2022, in which M & A Integrated Services reportedly received over N130 million for constructing five classrooms in Borno, Kaduna, and Plateau states.
The publisher of WikkiTimes stated that the attack on the platform began after the story was published.
“After the investigation we did on JIBWIS, the attacks started on the website and it has continued non-stop,” he told SaharaReporters.
However, it is unclear who is responsible for bringing down the website.
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