By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
As the citizens await the much-touted naming of the alleged sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria by the Federal Government, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has revealed that investigations are still on-going hence the culprits’ names will remain secret for now.
The Minister however vowed that; “nobody is going to be spared, no stone will be left unturned. We (FG) shall certainly and aggressively pursue those people that are involved in terrorist financing as far as the Nigerian State is concerned”.
Malami who spoke to State House Correspondents on Friday after paying a visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, insisted that anyone found culpable in terrorism financing will not be spared by President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
Reminded that there have been reports of government’s plans to commence the trial of those arrested for funding Boko Haram activities in Nigeria, he replied thus:
“As you will actually know, sometimes back there were certain convictions of Nigerians allegedly involved in terrorism financing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That gave rise to a wider and far-reaching investigations in Nigeria and I’m happy to report that arriving from the wider coverage investigation that has been conducted in Nigeria, a number of people, both institutional and otherwise, were found to be culpable.
“I mean reasonable grounds for suspicion of terrorism financing have been established, or perhaps has been proven to be in existence in respect of the transactions of certain high-profile individuals and businessmen across the country.
“I’m happy to report that investigation has been ongoing for long and it has reached an advanced stage. Arriving from the investigation, there exists, certainly, reasonable grounds for suspicion that a lot of Nigerians, high-profile, institutional and otherwise, are involved in terrorism financing and they are being profiled for prosecution.
“In essence, it is indeed true that the government is prosecuting and it’s indeed initiating processes of prosecuting those high-profile individuals that are found to be financing terrorism. It is indeed true”, the Minister confirmed.
On how many of those culprits have so far been arrested, the AGFs said: “as to the number, investigation is ongoing and it has to be conclusive before one can arrive at a certain number, but one thing I can tell you is it’s a large number and they are being profiled for prosecution. It is indeed a large number and I’m not in a position to give you its precision, the number as at now because the profiling and investigation are ongoing”.
