The Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has recommended multi-national investigations into sponsors of Boko Haram and other terrorists recking havoc in the state, saying identifying the sponsors would help in greater measures to put an end to insurgency.
He explained that the call had become imperative after some alleged financiers of Boko Haram’s activities convicted six Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates in connection with terrorism funding, a development said to have left thousands of citizens killed, millions displaced and private property and public institutions worth N9 billion dollars destroyed in Borno, other parts of the northeast.
Zulum, who could not hide his joy upon hearing the news said that the conviction would give an headway on tracking some alleged financiers of Boko Haram’s activities and bring lasting solution and peace to Borno state and the region.
Giving details of the conviction through a statement released to newsmen by his spokesperson, Isa Gusau, Zulum explained that an Abu Dhabi appeal court upheld conviction of the six Nigerians for allegedly supplying almost N300m to fund Boko Haram.
He said, the convicts, according to the court, allegedly used bureau de change operations to send $782,000 to Boko Haram in 17 separate transfers from Dubai to Nigeria between 2015 and 2016.
The governor, however, enjoined the Federal Government to explore its bilateral ties with UAE, among other countries in tracking sponsors and financiers of terrorism in the country.
“We urged the Federal Government to consider setting up a multi-stakeholder team with trusted representatives from the Federal Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, NIA, the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA, the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad, and the ECOWAS Intergovernmental Action Group on Terrorism Financing in West Africa, GIABA, to assiduously work with the UAE Government to look into the issues raised by families crying foul play, and more importantly, to follow-up on the findings by the UAE with the hope of using the intelligence, if authenticated, to expand search on other Boko Haram sponsors that may be helping in similar ways,” the statement said.
The Governor, who in February, and October this year, declared two days of statewide fasting and prayers against Boko Haram and their sponsors, urged the people of Borno to sustain prayers for God to expose all sponsors of terrorism and terrorists, and anyone who knowingly benefits from the crisis at the expense of peace in the state.
Meanwhile, the 22nd report of the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team had identified charitable donations, extortion, smuggling and ransom remittances from kidnapping as some of the ways through which Boko Haram raises funds.
