National
INVESTIGATION: How Nigerian authorities detained terrorism financing suspects for 16 months without trial
Many Nigerians and foreign observers wonder how Boko Haram funds its operations. How has Boko Haram raised funds for its war on the Nigerian state for over a decade? Who finances the group?
At the peak of the war, Nigerian financial intelligence agencies began an investigation to know the financiers of terrorism in Africa’s most populous country.
The more than 10-year hunt yielded its latest result in March when the federal government sanctioned several individuals and entities for allegedly financing terrorism.
The list includes six Nigerians sentenced to 10 years to life in prison in 2019 for establishing a Boko Haram cell in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to raise cash for the insurgents in Nigeria.
The administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari arrested 96 suspected sponsors of terrorism and 424 of their associates in 2021. The government also identified 123 companies and 33 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators linked with terrorism by the fraud unit of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
Using the NFIU secret intelligence reports and multiple interviews with the arrested suspects, PREMIUM TIMES now reports that in the course of their investigations, Nigerian security agents perpetrated one of the worst cases of injustice in the country, holding suspects captive for 16 months without trial.
After the long detention period, most of the suspects were allowed to go; some were charged to court while others remained in detention.
Our findings show that the government held the suspects at secret locations in Abuja, denying them access to lawyers and family members for several months. The victims, who have been threatened not to speak to the press, said they were unjustly detained for months without even knowing the accusations against them.
After days of detention, the suspects found out that they were being investigated for financial dealings with alleged terrorists.