KEY POINTS

• The FG ordered financial institutions to freeze the assets of terrorism financiers.
• It backed US sanctions on a Nigerian ISIS financier and three Lagos and Kano BDCs.
• Defence intelligence says the military has broken the backbone of ISIS and Boko Haram.

The Federal Government on Tuesday directed financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses to comply fully with sanctions obligations by freezing the assets of terrorism financiers. The directive followed US sanctions on a Nigerian financier of ISIS, along with his three bureaux de change in Lagos and Kano.

Backing the US sanctions

According to the Nigerian Sanctions Committee, the US used Executive Order 13224 to sanction the Lagos-based financier, Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, 35, and three BDCs, namely Generation Currency Bureau De Change, Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change and Manhattan Bureau De Change, for allegedly moving funds for ISIS. Moreover, the committee noted that the action targeted the group’s financial networks across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.

The committee said the Federal Government had earlier, on June 18, added six more names to its own sanctions list. These include Ibrahim Yakubu Ogirima, Adamu Chiroma, Ibrahim Abubakar, Abdullahi Umar Usman, Babangida Muhammed, Adamu Hammajam and Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau De Change.

Furthermore, the committee said the US move places Washington’s weight behind sanctions Nigeria had already imposed, signalling a coordinated effort to choke off terrorist financing. “Nigeria remains resolute in its commitment to ensuring that terrorists and their financiers find no safe haven within the country’s financial system,” the statement said. Consequently, it directed institutions to enforce asset freezes, file Suspicious Transaction Reports and report relevant matches to the authorities.

Military claims major gains

In a related development, the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Undiandeye, said the military, working with the US, UK and France, had broken the backbone of terrorist groups. He spoke at the Second Quarter Operations Briefing for foreign defence advisers and attachés in Abuja.

According to Undiandeye, troops had decimated ISIS, Boko Haram and other groups, taking out commanders and disrupting their supply networks. “Our forces have assaulted, decimated and decapitated them so much that their logistics, arms and ammunition couriers and other supporting networks have been vanquished,” he said. Therefore, he declared that the armed forces had largely contained the country’s security challenges through better capabilities, intelligence and allied coordination.

Ultimately, the committee credited the Justice Ministry, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the CBN, the DSS, the EFCC and the Financial Intelligence Unit for the work, and it pledged to keep partnering domestic and international allies to safeguard the financial system.