Terror financiers: “Suspects allegedly linked to powerful Nigerians, ex-AGF Malami, Emefiele, former Army Chiefs” – Report

A major counter-terrorism investigation has exposed alleged links between terror financiers and some of Nigeria’s most powerful figures, including former top government and military officials.

The revelations come from a retired Nigerian Army General, Ali-Keffi, who once led the probe.

Operation Service Wide: Uncovering Terror Networks

In 2021, an investigation known as Operation Service Wide (OSW) was launched with the approval of then-President Muhammadu Buhari.

The multi-agency task force was reportedly tasked with identifying Boko Haram masterminds, tracing their financiers, and dismantling networks that supported terrorism.

The retired general revealed that the operation uncovered “a sprawling network of financiers allegedly tied to senior government officials, influential military officers, and top financial institutions.”

Suspects Linked to Influential Nigerians

According to Ali-Keffi, the probe identified several suspects with links to high-profile officials:

• Two suspects allegedly connected to former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd).
• Two suspects tied to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
• One suspect connected to former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
• Former Chief of Army Staff Gen. Faruk Yahaya (rtd) linked to another suspect.

He stated that these officials were not accused of financing terrorism directly, but that the suspects they were linked to were under investigation for terror financing.

“I am not accusing Buratai, Malami, or Emefiele of terrorism financing. But I was informed by the former NFIU Director that investigations linked them to some of the suspects. I don’t know if they were later cleared but up to the time that I was arrested, detained, compulsorily retired and taken off the OSW, they were linked to some of the suspects,” Ali-Keffi said.

He added: “Let me state again that the former Director of NFIU told me that Gen. Buratai, Malami, Emefiele and Gen. Yahaya respectively were linked to some of the suspects based on business connections. Note that a lot of the suspects were engaged in legitimate business, which was Bureau De Change which however, we suspected were ‘cover’ for their other nefarious activity, which was, terrorism financing. Throughout the time that I headed the OSW, we did not establish that Gen. Buratai, Emefiele, Malami and Gen. Yahaya, were linked with terrorism financing or knew that the suspects that they were linked with were involved in terrorism financing.”

Arrest, Detention, and Forced Retirement

Ali-Keffi said he was suddenly summoned to the Headquarters of Military Police on October 18, 2021, detained for 64 days, “never charged, never queried, and never tried by any military or civil court before being compulsorily retired.”

He added: “Till today, I don’t know my offence,” and described his detention as a coordinated attempt to stop the terrorism-financing probe.

He noted that no action was taken on his petition to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seeking redress, which pushed him to go public and file a case at the National Industrial Court.

Ali-Keffi said: “the court has not sat even once, claiming that court processes were not served on the Nigerian Army, adding that my lawyer strongly suspects ‘foul play.’”

Offshore Accounts and Attempted Bribe

One international suspect, Aboubacar Hima, was found to own an offshore account containing about $600 million, traced by OSW via the NFIU.

Ali-Keffi said: “I was later told by the then-NFIU boss that someone acting for Hima offered $50 million for Nigeria to inform the US that it had ‘no issues’ with the funds, effectively unfreezing the account. I rejected the offer.”

He added: “Upon my release from detention, I was informed that the Nigerian government eventually wrote to the US requesting that the account be unfrozen. According to him, Buhari told the NFIU boss to ‘reconcile with Malami’ over their ‘differences.’

Investigation Obstructed, Suspects Released

Ali-Keffi said OSW had evidence for terrorism-financing charges against 48 suspects but faced persistent pressure to downgrade the charges to money laundering.

He alleged: “After my release from detention, I was told by Hamman-Tukur Ribadu that the Nigerian Government wrote to the US to unfreeze the account. Let me state that in the course of the investigation, sometime in August or September 2021, Abubakar removed one of the top prosecution lawyers who was assisting the OSW to build up the case without any explanation to me. I later learned that she refused to compromise her stance, which was that we (OSW) had sufficient evidence to present in court on charges of terrorism financing against all the 48 suspects that were in OSW custody. I recall that I stated in my letter of redress that pressure was being mounted on me to build a case of money laundering against the individuals and not terrorism financing. I suspected that the powers-that-be at the time wanted the case to be transferred to the EFCC, which is under the control of the Attorney General. The Chairman at the time was Mr Bawa, a relative of Malami. They wanted to ‘kill’ the investigation but my insistence and that of the lady from the AGF office, who was removed, made the Presidency to go after me by getting the Army to come up with trumped-up allegations against me.”

He added: “I understand that the 20 suspects were never charged or taken to court. They were all released. I was made to understand from an insider that they (the suspects before they were released) were warned not to go to the media, or to go to the court as a result of their detention for over nine months. NFIU was pressured to drop the accusation of terrorism financing.”

Over 400 Targets, Including Boko Haram Leader Shekau

Ali-Keffi revealed that OSW had a list of over 400 individuals for arrest or elimination, including the late Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau:

“Some of the 20 top suspects are part of the 48 that the OSW arrested. We had a list of suspects to be arrested or eliminated containing over 400 individuals. Shekau was in the list. Of course, we couldn’t arrest Shekau and so we ’engineered’ what happened to him.”

He insisted that the NFIU, EFCC, and the Office of the Attorney-General are best positioned to explain whether funds traced to terror sponsors were recovered or released.

“The former GOC maintains that his ordeal, including arrest, detention, and forced retirement, was a direct result of resisting attempts to obstruct a terrorism-financing investigation that touched some of Nigeria’s most powerful individuals,” he stated.