The United States (US) has announced that it has placed six Nigerians on its terrorist list for their alleged involvement in sponsoring the terrorist group, Boko Haram. The US Department of State had designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization (SDGTO) on November 14, 2013. Boko Haram is responsible for several attacks in the Northern and North-Eastern regions of Nigeria as well as in the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger that have killed thousands of people since 2019.
This was made known on Friday in a statement by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The statement reads in part, “The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added Nigerian nationals Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, pursuant to Executive Order 13224 (as amended) for having materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram.
“Today’s action follows the United Arab Emirates’ prosecutions, convictions, and designations of these individuals for supporting terrorism."
Emirati authorities declared the six individuals guilty of setting up a Boko Haram cell in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the purpose of raising funds for and providing material assistance to Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria.
According to reports, the six individuals were convicted for transferring $782,000 from Dubai to Boko Haram elements in Nigeria.
Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, and Ibrahim Ali Alhassan were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, followed by deportation while Salihu Yusuf Adamu and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad were both sentenced to life imprisonment for violating anti-terrorism laws of the UAE.