The Federal Government has identified Kaduna-based publisher Tukur Mamu, nine other persons and six Bureau De Change operators and firms as alleged terrorist financiers in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit revealed this in a statement entitled “Designation of Individuals and Entities for March 18, 2024,” and emailed to The PUNCH Tuesday night.
The statement said the Nigeria Sanctions Committee met on March 18, 2024, and recommended that some persons and entities should be penalized for financing terrorism.
The email reads: “The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, with the approval of the President, has therefore designated the following individuals and entities to be listed on the Nigeria Sanctions List,” the document read in part.
The document named Kaduna-based publisher, Tukur Mamu, who is currently being prosecuted by the Federal Government for allegedly aiding the terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train in March 2022.
“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. It further revealed that 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 Center, Abuja on July 5, 2022.”
The statement described another suspect 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-Murabtoun Katibat of AQIM in Algeria and Mali.”
The NFIU said Belmokhtar “specialises in designing terrorist clandestine communication code and he is also Improvised Explosive Device 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 the 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” was also identified, adding that he “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.”
A female financial courier to ISWAP Okene has been identified who is reported to be responsible for disbursing funds to the widows/wives of the terrorist fighters of the group.
The document said another of the individuals “in 2015, transferred N60m to terrorism convicts.”
He reportedly “received N189m between 2016 and 2018,” and is believed 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 N57m between 2014 and 2017” and has “had a total inflow of N61.4 bn and a total outflow of N51.7bn from his accounts.”
According to the document, in accordance with Section 54 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, institutions and individuals are required to:
“(a) immediately, identify and freeze, without prior notice, all funds, assets, and any other economic resources belonging to the designated persons and entities in your possession and report same to the Sanctions Committee;
“(b) report to the Sanctions Committee any assets frozen or actions taken in compliance with the prohibition requirements.
“(c) immediately file a Suspicious Transactions Report to the NFIU for further analysis on the financial activities of such an individual or entity; and
“(d) report as a Suspicious Transactions Report to the NFIU, all cases of name matching in financial transactions prior to or after receipt of this List. ”
“The freezing obligation required above shall extend to
“(a) all funds or other assets that are owned or controlled by the designated persons and entities, and not only those that are tied to a particular act, plot, or threat of terrorism or terrorism financing;
“(b) those funds or other assets that are wholly or jointly owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by designated persons or entities;
“(c) the funds or other assets derived or generated from funds or other assets owned or controlled directly or indirectly by designated persons or entities; and
“(d) funds or other assets of persons and entities acting on behalf of, or at the direction of designated persons or entities.”
