•Tasks security heads on inter-agency strategic fights against terrorists

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to make full disclosures to Nigerians regarding the identities and particulars of offences of the dare-devil financiers of terrorism in the country.

The human rights advocacy group faulted the position of the government that it wouldn't name and shame the financiers so as not to jeopardise investigations.

HURIWA said the crass failure of the current government to disclose the identities of the financiers of terrorists whose activities have led to the killings of over 50,000 citizens in the past decade, amounted to cover-up on the part of the current administration going by the fact that investigations have gone on for far too long which led to the identification of the suspected financiers of terrorism in Nigeria. The rights group wondered what kind of investigation would go on ad infinitum which offend global best practices.

The Rights group stated that advanced democracies automatically publish and authorise the release of information on the particulars of offences and the identities of financiers of terrorism as soon as this information is generated and therefore wonders whether Nigeria was an island.

HURIWA is worried that the President Tinubu's administration was adopting the same archaic, shady and ludicrous pattern adopted by its predecessor which wasted over three years without publishing the names of the financiers of terrorists in Nigeria even when in 2022,the United Arab Emirates had convicted some of those financiers of terrorism in Nigeria when the Dubai's law enforcement Agency intercepted the Nigerian sponsors of the Boko Haram terrorists when they arrived in Dubai from Nigeria. HURIWA also stated that even the USA published the full identities of the aforementioned financiers of terrorism in Nigeria convicted in Dubai.

The group said the federal Attorney-General and Minister of Justice got it wrong for failing to give Nigerians the identities of the suspected financiers of terrorism because, as far back as 2022, six Nigerians were publicly sanctioned by the United States for raising funds in United Arab Emirates for the terrorist group, Boko Haram, where they were convicted.

Besides, HURIWA, in a statement by its National Cordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, maintained that Freedom of Information Act was a law of the Federation which obliges the government to provide relevant details of the identities of outlaws and terrorist masterminds.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) then designated a network of six individuals connected to Nigeria-based terrorist group, Boko Haram.All six were found guilty of establishing a Boko Haram cell in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to raise funds for and provide material assistance to Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria.

OFAC gave the names of the alleged financiers as Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended, which targets terrorists, leaders, and officials of terrorist groups, and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism.

The U.S. Department of State has designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on November 14, 2013.

The UAE Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi had convicted the above alleged financiers for transferring $782,000 from Dubai to Boko Haram in Nigeria.

HURIWA has also asked the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, and the service chiefs including the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, to upgrade their joint operations against terrorists because of the emerging challenge posed by the alleged withdrawal of Niger Republic from the West African counter- terrorism joint task force as a result of the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS following the military coup.

The association expressed consternation that terrorists around the borders of Nigeria and Niger, have escalated attacks targeting both soft and military targets, citing the report that at the weekend, suspected terrorists attacked Usmanu Danfodiyo University Community Sokoto, shot and killed one person, leaving others in critical condition.

Reports said the suspected gunmen stormed Dundayen Bakin Gulbi village, 600 meters away from the University main campus. Besides, HURIWA also cited the report that suspected Boko Haram insurgents, at the weekend, similarly attacked the convoy of Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, along Maiduguri-Dramaturu Road, killing two policemen and injuring two others.

The attack took place on Saturday after the governor was returning from the 24th convocation of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State.

HURIWA said the upsurge in attacks by terrorists was a demonstration of what it has been telling the security heads that they need to continuously work as one for the sake of defending the territorial integrity of the country and stop these incessant threats against national security.