The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is preparing to arraign a terrorism financing suspect and three companies linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as part of an intensified crackdown on extremist funding networks operating in Nigeria.
A senior EFCC official disclosed that the anti-graft agency had concluded investigations into the suspects and would soon file charges based on intelligence gathered in collaboration with Nigerian security agencies and international partners. The source added that information recently released by the United States on the suspects was already known to Nigerian authorities.
EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale confirmed that preparations had been completed for the prosecution of individuals and firms linked to ISIS and its affiliate, the Islamic State West Africa Province. He said the commission remained committed to disrupting financial channels used to support terrorist activities.
The agency is also set to arraign the leader of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations bordering on terrorism financing and money laundering involving $2.53 million. Court documents showed that the EFCC filed a 12-count charge against him on June 22, accusing him of receiving and possessing foreign currency suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
According to the charges, Bodejo allegedly accepted cash payments of $100,000 and $200,000 from former Bauchi State Accountant-General Sa’idu Abubakar in January 2022 without processing the transactions through financial institutions as required by law. The EFCC also accused him of receiving additional sums of $500,000 and $980,000 in 2024 in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Sanctions Committee, through the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, welcomed sanctions imposed by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control on businessman Mukthar Muhammad Adamu and two Bureau de Change operators — Nine to Nine BDC Limited and Generation Currency BDC Limited — over alleged terrorism financing. The committee noted that the individuals and firms had already been added to Nigeria’s sanctions list on June 18 following months of intelligence gathering and inter-agency investigations.
The committee said investigations established reasonable grounds to believe that the sanctioned individuals and entities facilitated or supported the activities of ISWAP and related terrorist groups. It directed banks, financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses to freeze assets linked to listed persons, file suspicious transaction reports and comply fully with sanctions obligations. It also reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to working with domestic and international partners to deny terrorist organisations access to the financial resources needed to sustain their operations.
