May 7, 2021

The Federal Government is initiating processes of prosecuting high-profile Nigerians suspected to be financiers of terrorism in the country.

Briefing journalists on Friday in Abuja, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami said the arrest of the suspects followed the recent convictions of some Nigerians on terrorism financing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He said that investigations conducted have established reasonable evidence of the involvement of the highly placed individuals, businessmen and institutions across the country in financing the Boko Haram terrorists.

“In essence, it is indeed true that the government is prosecuting and it’s indeed initiating processes of prosecuting those high-profile individuals that are found to be financing terrorism. It is indeed true.”

“As you will actually know, sometime back there were certain convictions of Nigerians allegedly involved in terrorism financing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” he said in reaction to the extent of prosecution.

“That gave rise to wider and far-reaching investigations in Nigeria and I’m happy to report that arising from the wider coverage investigation that has been conducted in Nigeria, a number of people, both institutional and otherwise, were found to be culpable.

“I mean a reasonable ground for suspicion of terrorism financing has been established or perhaps has been proven to be in existence in respect of the transactions of certain higher-profile individuals and businessmen across the country.”

Although Malami declined to disclose names of the terrorist financiers nor the number of those found culpable, he simply stated that a large number of persons were involved, adding that he is not at liberty to disclose further, as investigations (which have reached an advanced stage) and profiling continue.

He added, “I’m happy to report that investigation has been ongoing for a long time and it has reached an advanced stage.

“Arising from the investigation, there exists, certainly, reasonable grounds for suspicion that a lot of Nigerians, high-profile, institutional and otherwise, are involved in terrorism financing and they are being profiled for prosecution.

“The message is clear: nobody is going to be spared, no stone will be left unturned. We shall certainly and aggressively pursue those people that are involved in terrorist financing as far as the Nigerian state is concerned,” he declared.