Six Nigerians have been sentenced by an Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for funding Boko Haram in Nigeria
They were found guilty of funding an Islamic terror group, whose activities have killed thousands of Nigerians and displaced millions of others in the North-Eastern states.
In another revelation, UAE cabinet in September 14, 2021, released a terror list of 38 individuals and 15 registered companies that fund the killer group. But, we discovered that the names listed in this article also appeared in the new list.
The six persons were arrested between April 16 and 17, 2017, and their homes were searched according to the search warrant issued by the National Security Prosecution office dated April 16, 2017.
Names of Nigerians Who Have Been Funding Boko Haram
- Surajo Abubakar Muhammad
- Saleh Yusuf Adamu
- Ibrahim Ali Alhassan,
- AbdurRahman Ado Musa,
- Bashir Ali Yusuf
- Muhammad Ibrahim Isa
How it started
Their convictions started when the six were charged and found guilty at a lower court. They found out that they transferred $782,000 between 2015 and 2016 to Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria.
The prosecution also charged them of promoting the ideology and collecting and transferring funds and cash donations to this group in Nigeria through financial institutions operating within the UAE.
The act was contrary to Article 29, Clause 3 of UAE’s Federal Anti-Terrorism Law No 7 of 2017.
They were also found guilty of setting up and managed websites to promote the ideas of Boko Haram, according to 2019 report by Gulf News
UAE’s National Security Bureau said an investigation of the Nigerians “confirmed their involvement and membership of the terrorist group.
While Abubakar and Adamu were charged for joining Boko Haram knowingly which negates Article 22/2 of UAE’s Federal Anti-Terrorism Law No 7 of 2017 punishable by death or life imprisonment, Alhassan, Musa, Yusuf and Isa were charged with assisting the sect knowingly.
The crime, according to the report under Article 31, Clause 1 of the same law, is punishable by life imprisonment or at least five years in jail.
UAE court says government official is involved in funding Boko Haram
The documents also revealed that most of the transactions were facilitated by two undercover Boko Haram agents based in Nigeria. One of them is “Alhaji Sa’idu”.
The second known as “Alhaji Ashiru” was described as “a Nigerian government official”.
He also reportedly funneled misappropriated public funds to terrorists.
Sa’idu’s modus operandi is using unidentified Arab persons on a visit to Dubai from Turkey to hand over US Dollars to one of the convicts, who then remit Naira equivalent to the agent.
How the transactions were carried out
Between 2015 and 2016, the sponsors carried out 17 transactions to the account of Boko Haram members from UAE to Nigeria.
Court documents show that between 2015 and 2016, the convicts were allegedly involved in cash transfers totaling $782,000.00 to Boko Haram fighters.
Here is how the 17 transactions were made to Boko Haram:
- $100, 000
- $10,00
- $30,000
- $50,000
- $50,000
- $90,000
- $80,000
- $12,000
- $10,000
- $20,000
- $15,000
- $80,000
- $50,000
- $50,000
- $80,000
- $45,000
- $45,000
According to report, two of the sponsors Surajo Abubakar Muhammad
Saleh Yusuf Adamu were sentenced to life imprisonment while Bashir Ali Yusuf, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa, and Muhammad Ibrahim Isa, got ten-year imprisonment each.
Family claims innocence
Families of the convicts say they were “framed up”, insisting their Bureau De Change business in the UAE was legitimate.
Nigeria’s authority hasn’t reacted.
