An Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal has convicted six Nigerians over alleged funding of Boko Haram.
Daily Trust reported that two of the convicts, Surajo
Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu were sentenced to life imprisonment
while the remaining four, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa, Bashir
Ali Yusuf and Muhammad Ibrahim Isa were handed ten-year imprisonment
respectively.
The convicts were reportedly involved in different cash
transfers allegedly in favour of Boko Haram to the tune of USD782, 000.00
between 2015 and 2016, even though their associates insisted that the
transactions were for legitimate purposes.
Engaging in such an activity is a crime under Article 29,
Clause 3 of UAE’s Federal Law No 7 of 2017 with regards to anti-terrorism law.
It was further gathered that arrest warrants from the office of the National
Security Bureau were issued against the accused after investigations “confirmed
their involvement and membership of the Boko Haram” terror group in Nigeria,
and transferring money for that group.
They were apprehended between April 16 and 17, 2017, and
their homes searched according to the search warrant issued by the National
Security Prosecution office dated April 16, 2017.
While the first and second accused were said to have been
charged for joining the Boko Haram group in Nigeria knowingly, which is a crime
punishable under Article 22/2 of the Federal Law No 7 of 2017 with regards to
anti-terrorism punishable by death or life imprisonment, the third,
fourth, fifth and sixth accused were
charged with assisting the terror group knowingly, which is a crime under
Article 31, Clause 1 of the same law, and is punishable by life imprisonment or
jail for not less than five years under the UAE law.
The publication reported that almost all the transactions
that landed the six Nigerians now in jail in the UAE were initiated by two
undercover Boko Haram agents who are based in Nigeria from where they were
facilitating the funding transactions.
One of them, Alhaji Sa’idu who is allegedly based in
Nigeria, is said to be a senior undercover Boko Haram member responsible for
facilitating the group’s access to funds from its sponsors.
Also fingered in some of the transitions is one Alhaji
Ashiru, who is said to be “a Nigerian government official” and yet a senior
undercover Boko Haram member who facilitated the transfer of misappropriated
public funds to the group.
A source said;
“I think Alhaji Sa’idu is just Nom de guerre who used the gullibility
of the victims to achieve his aim. They were into bureau de change business,
receiving and sending monies on behalf of others.
“From what I understand, they have been doing the business
for long and along the line, they fell into a trap. I am not siding with them
or trying to indict them but generally, there is ignorance on their side."
Families of the convicts however told Daily Trust that their
relatives were most likely deceived in the course of their routine bureau de
change transactions to the extent that some of the transactions they
facilitated turned out to be for proceeds meant for Boko Haram activities.
Auwalu Ali Alhassan, an elder brother to two of the
convicts; Ibrahim Ali and Bashir Ali said his siblings were not given a fair
hearing during the trial, adding that efforts to get the Nigerian government to
intervene proved abortive.
Alhassan said;
“There was no fair
hearing during the court case; no witnesses and they were just convicted to ten
years in prison (Ibrahim and Bashir) and those that provided them with the
monies were sentenced to 25 years each. They were earlier accused of money
laundering and nothing more but along the line, the charge changed to financing
terrorism.
“The case was appealed and still the ruling was upheld. We
reported back to foreign affairs (here in Nigeria) and they advised us to wait
till after the appeal.
“This wasn’t to be. After they were taken to court they were
later charged with terrorism, that those monies they collected were from people
linked with a terrorist.
“Our brothers were not accused of terrorism. The ministry
requested inquiries trying to use diplomatic relations to secure their release
since they were not convicted of terrorism and to seek an explanation from the
UAE of what really happened. It was at that point when the COVID pandemic sets
in. Till date, the government of the UAE has not provided the information and
court proceedings being sought by the Nigerian government.
“We have been to relevant places including the Ministry of
Justice and the Diaspora Commission; they keep telling us no response (from the
UAE). We even wrote an open letter to the president, which was published in
some national dailies but no positive development. The boys are still being
held in prison. We are seeing lack of interest from the Nigerian government to
secure their release."
When contacted, the Attorney – General and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami said the Nigerian government was aware of the matter
and had written the UAE seeking records of proceedings but was yet to get
feedback.
Commenting on claims by families of some of the convicts
that different government agencies including the ministry of justice failed to
come to their aid, Malami said it was not true that the Nigerian government did
not do anything on the matter.
Malami said;
“Nigerian government has written firstly for copies of the
proceedings, which will give us the opportunity to see whether justice was done
or not. And on whether they have committed the crime, we requested to know who
and who are involved so that the Nigerian government will know what to do next.
“Nigerian government is working but it doesn’t have the
exclusive control, it has to rely on the information provided by UAE. So, it is
not in control of the speed of response or action.
“We are working on both the issues that they did not receive
a fair hearing and that they were alleged to have supported Boko Haram
activities."
On alleged undercover agents who are said to be at large,
Malami said;
“Since the relationship involves issues of money between
Nigeria and UAE, the Nigerian government has equally instructed the existing
agencies of government to embark on an investigation on that and we have gone
far.
“We await further intelligence from the UAE, which has relevance to the conviction and trial in order to do what we can as a follow-up to take the next line of action."
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