Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has commended the alleged conviction of some Nigerians on charges bothering on sponsorship of the activities of terrorist sect, Boko Haram.
The governor in a statement titled, ‘Zulum hails UAE on Boko haram sponsors’, asks FG to deploy a mult-stakeholder team to follow up, expand searchlight,’ released on Tuesday by his spokesperson, Malam Isa Gusau asked the Federal Government to follow up the revelations of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the convicts.
An Abu Dhabi appeal court had upheld the conviction of some Nigerians for allegedly bankrolling Boko Haram to the tune of almost N300m.
According to the court, the convicts allegedly sent $782,000 to Boko Haram through bureau de change operations in 17 different transfers from Dubai to Nigeria between 2015 to 2016.
The families of the convicted persons have claimed innocence and questioned on the UAE court judgement.
Reacting to the development, the governor acknowledged the rights of the families of those convicted.
The statement partly read, “Governor Babagana Umara Zulum is glad that for the first time in 11 years, there appears to be headway on tracking some alleged financiers of Boko Haram’s activities which has left thousands of citizens killed, millions displaced and private property and public institutions worth 9 billion dollars destroyed in Borno, other parts of the northeast and Nigeria at large.
“Zulum urged the Federal Government to consider setting up a multi-stakeholder team with trusted representatives from the Federal Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, NIA, the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA, the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad, and the ECOWAS Intergovernmental Action Group on Terrorism Financing in West Africa, to assiduously work with the UAE Government to look into the issues raised by families crying foul play, and more importantly, to follow-up on the findings by the UAE with the hope of using the intelligence, if authenticated, to expand search on other Boko Haram sponsors that may be helping in similar ways.”