News
Controversy Trails Leaked List Of Terrorists’ Financiers
There is controversy around the list of terror financiers purportedly leaked by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and reported on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
Daily Trust reports that for nearly fifteen years, the federal government, right from the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, his successor, Muhammadu Buhari, and recently that of Bola Tinubu, have promised to expose terror financiers in the country with a view to unravelling the mystery surrounding the menace.
Thousands of people have been killed since 2009 when the Boko Haram crisis erupted; and the orgy of violence escalated with the onset of banditry in the North West and parts of North Central, as well as sundry crimes manifesting in different forms in other parts of the country.
A report by the Punch newspaper on Wednesday, said the federal government had uncovered the identity of 15 entities, including nine individuals and six Bureaus De Change allegedly involved in terrorism financing.
It said details of the development were revealed by the NFIU, in an email sent on Tuesday night, entitled “Designation of Individuals and Entities for March 18, 2024.”
It indicated that the document revealed that the Nigeria Sanctions Committee met on March 18, 2024, where specific individuals and entities were recommended for sanction following their involvement in terrorism financing.
“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, with the approval of the President, has thereupon designated the following individuals and entities to be listed on the Nigeria Sanctions List,” the document read in part.
Even though the first story clearly mentioned the Kaduna-based publisher, Tukur Mamu, who is currently being tried by the federal government for allegedly aiding the terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train in March 2022, an updated story, which has gone viral on multiple platforms, listed other names and entities.
These include: Yusuf Ghazali, Muhammad Sani, Abubakar Muhammad, Sallamudeen Hassan, Adamu Ishak, Hassana-Oyiza Isah, Abdulkareem Musa, and Umar Abdullahi.
It also listed six BDCs and firms including the West and East Africa General Trading Company Limited, Settings Bureau De Change Limited, G. Side General Enterprises, Desert Exchange Ventures Limited, Eagle Square General Trading Company Limited and Alfa Exchange BDC.
Apart from Mamu, all the remaining names mentioned are not known, and efforts to unravel their identities did not yield any result as of press time.
NFIU disowns memo
Contacted yesterday to give more insight on the development, the Head of Public Affairs, NFIU, Abubakar Abba Ibrahim, said the organisation did not issue any statement.
Another senior official in the agency, Sani Tukur, said on the media WhatsApp platform of the agency, “There was no statement from our office sir. I have asked around and no one seems to know how they got it. I believe it is being investigated.”
Also contacted to know when the trial of the suspects will commence, a senior official in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, said they read the story.
“We saw nothing to expand on it because it is not new,” the source said.
The source further disclosed that the BDC operators and Tukur Mamu have been in court since their indictment in Dubai and arrest in Egypt, respectively.
Arrests started since 2020
Daily Trust had reported in April 2021, that dozens of persons have been arrested by security agents in an on-going nationwide crackdown on suspected financiers and collaborators of Boko Haram and other criminal groups in Nigeria.
Five months earlier, this newspaper had exclusively reported the jailing of six Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over allegations of terrorism financing.
It was gathered that the closely-guarded operation was being coordinated by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS), NFIU and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
As part of the operation, billions of naira traced to businesses belonging to persons of interest had been blocked in banks in a series of “post no debit” letters sent out to banks by the CBN and NFIU. The apex bank also obtained court orders directing freezing of dozens of accounts flagged for suspicious transactions.
A security source familiar with the operation confided in a national daily at the time that the operation started in 2020 with massive gathering and analysis of financial intelligence and drawing uplink analysis, leading to initial marking of some 60 businesses and individuals.
The source said an initial list of 957 suspects comprising bureau de change operators, gold miners and sellers, and other businessmen, was being acted upon.
Before the crackdown was relaxed, about 400 persons were arrested in a series of arrests in Kano, Borno, Abuja, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kaduna and Zamfara.
Recent leaked findings
In the latest leaked document, it was stated that Mamu “Participated in the financing of terrorism by receiving and delivering ransom payments over the sum of $200,000 US in support of ISWAP terrorists for the release of hostages of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack.”
The document said one of the individuals is “The suspected attacker of the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State on June 5, 2022 and the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja on July 5, 2022.”
Another was described as “A member of the terrorist group, Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladissudam, the group is associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
“The subject was trained and served under Muktar Belmokhtar, aka One Eyed Out, led Al-Murabitoun Katibat of AQIM in Algeria and Mali.”
The NFIU allegedly said the individual “Specialises in designing terrorist clandestine communication code and he is also an Improvised Explosive Device expert.
“The subject was also a gatekeeper to ANSARU leader, Mohammed Usman aka Khalid Al-Barnawi. Equally, he was a courier and travel guide to AQIM Katibat in the desert of Algeria and Mali. He is into carpentry. Subject fled Kuje Correctional Centre on July 5, 2022. He is currently at large.”
Another was identified as “A senior commander of the Islamic State of West Africa Province Okene.”
It said the individual “Came into 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, including the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.”
Another was described as “A financial courier to ISWAP Okene. She is responsible for the disbursement of funds to the widows/wives of the terrorist fighters of the group.”
According to the document, another of the individuals “In 2015, transferred N60 million to terrorism convicts”, and was said to have “Received a sum of N189 million between 2016 and 2018.”
The same person was said to “Own entities and business reported in the UAE court judgment as facilitating the transfer of terrorist funds from Dubai to Nigeria.”
Another individual was said to have “Received a total of N57 million from between 2014 and 2017.”
Another was said to have “Had a total inflow of N61.4 billion and a total outflow of N51.7 billion from his accounts.”
4 of 6 indicted BDCs not registered with CAC
Findings by Daily Trust revealed that four of the six bureaus de change allegedly named by the federal government as terrorism financiers are either not registered or have been delisted by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Out of the six BDCs, only two, namely Desert Exchange Ventures Limited and Settings Bureau De Change were seen as registered with CAC although their statuses are inactive.
Subsequently, no results were found for West and East Africa General Trading Company Limited, G. Side General Enterprises, Eagle Square General Trading Company Limited and Alfa Exchange BDC.
This means they were either delisted by the CAC or have not been registered at all.
Desert Exchange Ventures Limited is located at NO. 18, M. Y. C. House, Lawan Dambazau Road, Kano and was incorporated on May 7, 2015, while Settings Bureau De Change is located at NO.43 Ibrahim Taiwo Rd, Kano, and was Incorporated on April 9 2014.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A member of the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, Diran Odeyemi, and a chieftain of the Labour Party, Anslem Eragbe, have advised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to kill his 2027 presidential election ambition.
Both Odeyemi and Eragbe said the South should be allowed to rule for eight years.
They said the 2027 southern president might not necessarily be President Bola Tinubu.
Eragbe, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, argued that Atiku should not have contested the 2023 presidential election because it was the turn of the South to produce a president.
He said, “Atiku was not supposed to contest the 2023 presidential election because it was the turn of southern Nigeria. It is the turn of the South till 2031.
“Being a former Vice President of Nigeria for eight years; Atiku knows Nigeria’s power drill and equation. He should support younger Nigerians to power and provide guidance in 2027.”
Asked if the former Vice President would breach any law if he chooses to run for the nation’s highest office in 2027, Eragbe said the PDP stalwart “is entitled to his ambition and aspirations, adding however that “2027 – 2031 is for southern Nigeria.”
According to him, the 2027 presidency shall remain in southern Nigeria and should be zoned to the South-South region.
“It should be further micro-zoned to the (defunct) mid-Western region. I mean the defunct Bendel, now Edo and Delta states. We expect the major political parties to do this for equity, justice, fairness and parity.
“However, should President Bola Tinubu, win the 2027 presidential election and continue till 2031, power shall return to Northern Nigeria,” he added.
The former President of the Student Union Government of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, added that when compared with other geo-political zones in the country, the South-South had spent the least number of years on the presidential seat.
“The region that has ruled the least in Nigeria is the South-South with only five years under Goodluck Jonathan and should rule Nigeria again beginning from 2027.
“When put together, the North-Central spent a total of 17 years and 11 months, North-West, 17 years, three months; North-East, 10 years, three months; South-West, 15 years, four months by the time Tinubu finishes his term in May 2027; South East spent five years and nine months and the South-South, the only region to spend five years only on the presidential seat,” he added.
Eragbe called on the political parties to identify credible politicians, regardless of their financial status, to fly their flags for the various elective offices, stressing that 2027 would be another opportunity to right the wrongs of the past.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, Odeyemi stated that the ex-vice president’s participation in the 2023 presidential election and his perceived ambitions for 2027 were the causes of PDP crisis.
He charged Atiku to bury his ambition, adding that once the former vice president failed to declare interest in 2027, the crisis in the party would be over.
The 2023 election was originally supposed to be between southerners, as former President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, had just completed eight years in office. However, Atiku insisted on exercising his rights, which is why there is a crisis in the PDP,” he stated.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Ex-military head of state, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has stated that he shoved aside Muhammadu Buhari’s regime because he believed his policies were detrimental to the nation’s progress.
The former military leader disclosed this in his autobiography, ‘A Journey In Service’, launched in Abuja on Thursday.
Babangida was chief of staff to Buhari, who ousted Shehu Shagari’s civilian government in the December 31, 1983 coup.
After the military coup that replaced the civilian government of Shehu Shagari with a military regime led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida assumed the Chief of Army Staff role.
However, he became increasingly dissatisfied with the Buhari government’s policies and leadership style, which he described as draconian.
Recalling how he journeyed from Minna to Lagos on August 27, 1985, to assume office, Babangida said tension had already begun to build up since the start of the year, and a change in leadership had become necessary.
He said, “On that day, it became my lot to step into the saddle of national leadership on behalf of the Nigerian armed forces. The change in leadership had become necessary as a response to the worsening mood of the nation and growing concern about our future as a people. All through the previous day, as we flew from Minna and drove through Lagos towards Bonny Camp, I was deeply reflecting on how we as a nation got to this point and how and why I found myself at this juncture of fate.
“By the beginning of 1985, the citizenry had become apprehensive about the future of our country.
The atmosphere was precarious and fraught with ominous signs of clear and present danger. It was clear to the more discerning leadership of the armed forces that our initial rescue mission of 1983 had largely miscarried. We now stood the risk of having the armed forces split down the line because our rescue mission had largely derailed. If the armed forces imploded, the nation would go with it, and the end was just too frightening to contemplate.
“Divisions of opinion within the armed forces had come to replace the unanimity of purpose that informed the December 1983 change of government. In state affairs, the armed forces, as the only remaining institution of national cohesion, were becoming torn into factions; something needed to be done lest we lose the nation itself. My greatest fear was that division of opinion and views within the armed forces could lead to factionalisation in the military. If allowed to continue and gain root, grave dangers lay ahead.”
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives, Bismark Rewane, has revealed that the Nigerian government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, has spent almost $8 billion defending the naira at the foreign exchange market in the last months.
Rewane, a renowned economist, disclosed this at the weekend in an interview with Channels Television.
He was reacting to the decision by the Monetary Policy Committee to retain the country’s interest rate at 27.50 percent at the same time, maintaining other MPR parameters.
Explaining the reason the Naira has appreciated to N1,505 and N1,507 across parallel and official foreign exchange markets, he noted that the apex bank has several initiatives to support the country’s currency.
“We’ve also borrowed $4 billion in bond issues. When you take a look at that, you’ll see there is a lot of work. We’ve actually spent almost $8 billion trying to support the naira at current levels,” Rewane stated.
According to him, Nigeria’s January inflation figure, which dropped to 24.48 percent after the Consumer Price Index rebasing, does not reflect the reality of ordinary Nigerians.
“There’s no way that inflation can reduce by 10% in a short period. The man on the street does not believe that inflation has come down as sharply as that,” he said.
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