The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has disclosed that efforts were already ongoing to publish and prosecute individuals financing terrorists in Nigeria, saying the hurdle limiting the quick action was the legal complexities in the country’s constitution.
Musa said that the lists already gathered by the government have increased from what was left by President Bola Tinubu’s immediate successor, Muhammadu Buhari, who passed on recently.
The CDS, who made the revelation on Thursday while responding to questions on a popular television program, said terrorism financiers often rely on local operatives who remit money into certain accounts.
He said, “I think the process is on, I can speak for this government … and because it has to do with a lot of legal issues and because again, it has to do with international connections. Some of them have funds coming from outside, and we cannot do anything from within.
“We know them. The local ones, what they do normally is to employ a few individuals, provide motorcycles for them, and those individuals are remitting funds daily into some accounts. So, it’s being tracked. They try to circulate these monies, and that’s why we need to be able to track the funds,” Musa explained.
The CDS commended the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for its role in exposing financial links to terrorism.
“The NFIU has been doing so much, apart from the intelligence setup, the financial links are also being followed through and through, and arrests have been made. I can assure you the Attorney-General of the Federation, the NSA (Nuhu Ribadu) are all working seriously to ensure that we address those issues,” he said.
Musa also disclosed that the Department of State Services (DSS), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and other security agencies are working to track politicians financing insecurity.
“You know, criminals work together. They synergise their efforts together, both the bandits and terrorists, because their common goal is to make money, and they want to make sure communities are suffering for whatever reason. And again, some part of politics, when there is peace, it shows the government is doing well, and when there is no peace, it shows the government is not doing well.
“You realise that last year, we had the least number of deaths, then how come suddenly everything has gone up? Because politics has come in, elections are coming in. You cannot rule out the fact that some individuals are making sure there is no peace. The funny thing is that how do you want to kill the people you want to govern? What do you gain from it?”
Asked if political actors behind terrorism have been identified, Musa replied that “work is in progress.”
