The Federal Government has named 15 entities said to be involved in terrorism financing. They include nine individuals and six Bureaux De Change operators and firms.
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, disclosed this in an email to The Punch on Tuesday. It was titled “Designation of Individuals and Entities for March 18, 2024”.
According to the document, the Nigeria Sanctions Committee met on March 18, 2024. At the meeting, specific individuals and entities were recommended for sanction following their involvement in terrorism financing.
The suspects
Those named in the document for financing terrorism include Tukur Mamu, a Kaduna-based publisher, who is currently being tried for allegedly aiding the terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train in March 2022.
Also, another was “a member of the terrorist group Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladissudam, associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
(He) specialises in designing terrorist clandestine communication code and he is also an Improvised Explosive Device, IED, expert.
“The subject was also a gatekeeper to ANSARU leader, Mohammed Usman aka Khalid Al-Bamawi.
“Equally, he was a courier and travel guide to AQIM Katibat in the desert of Algeria and Mali. He is into carpentry. The subject fled Kuje Correctional Centre on July 5, 2022. He is currently at large.”
Another named among those financing terrorism was “a senior commander of the Islamic State of West Africa Province Okene.”
He “came into the limelight in 2012 as North Central wing of Boko Haram.
The group is suspected of the attacks carried out around Federal Capital Territory and the South West Geographical Zone. These include the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.”
Again, another, a female, is a financial courier to ISWAP Okene and responsible for the disbursement of funds to the widows/wives of the terrorist fighters.”
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One more of those accused of financing terrorism transferred N60 million to terrorism convicts in 2015. He received N189 million between 2016 and 2018. He “own entities and business reported in the UAE court judgment as facilitating the transfer of terrorist funds from Dubai to Nigeria.”
Another “received a total of N57 million from between 2014 and 2017. Furthermore, another was said to have “had a total inflow of N61.4 billion and a total outflow of N51.7 billion from his accounts.”
