Time to Unmask Sponsors of Boko Haram

While the federal government has always swept allegations on the alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram under the carpet, it is expected that the latest claims by US Congressman, Scott Perry, that the United States Agency for International Development has been funding the terrorist organisation would be too damning to ignore , Davidson  Iriekpen  writes

Nigerians were recently alarmed when a United States Congressman, Scott Perry, alleged that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had been funding terrorist organisations across the world, including Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Perry, a Republican representing Pennsylvania, made the claim during the inaugural hearing of the US House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.

The hearing, titled, “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud,” focused on alleged misappropriations of taxpayer funds.

President Donald Trump had suspended USAID and other aid programmes, accusing them of corruption. The lawmaker alleged that the US aid agency funded terrorist organisations, including Boko Haram, to the tune of $697 million annually.

In a video that went viral, Perry said: “Who gets some of that money? Does that name ring a bell to anybody in the room? Because your money, your money, $697 million annually, plus the shipments of cash funds in Madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan, terrorist training camps. That’s what it’s funding.”

Perry’s allegations came amid growing concerns from Nigerian authorities regarding the financial support mechanisms sustaining Boko Haram.

Though many have expressed reservations over Perry’s allegation, and described as outlandish, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills, has countered him, they still want the Nigerian authorities investigate the claim.

For instance, Mills who met with members of the Nigeria Governors Forum in Abuja last week, said there was “absolutely no evidence” to back up the allegation. He stated that no country condemns Boko Haram’s violence more strongly than the US, assuring that if any evidence is found, the US government will work with the Nigerian government to investigate it.

Since 2009, when Boko Haram started its deadly insurgency in Nigeria, the sect has become Nigeria’s biggest security challenge, operating in an amorphous manner and bombing innocent Nigerians at random, even in churches, military installations and mosques.

Various data have shown that the deadly sect has killed over 100,000 Nigerians in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states, and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced over the years. It has also destroyed schools, hospitals, other government infrastructure and private houses.

Presently, it is believed that over 500,000 persons displaced from Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states, as a result of Boko Haram activities, are taking refuge in Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.

More than 50,000 soldiers have been killed in the course of fighting the insurgents, in addition to the destruction of military hardware worth millions of dollars.

The federal government and its agencies have so far been unable to completely eliminate the sect, and apprehend its sponsors.

In January 2012, while speaking in Abuja, former President Goodluck Jonathan publicly admitted that members of the extremist sect had succeeded in infiltrating his government, planting themselves in government agencies and security outfits.

He refused to name or move against them.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a promise to tackle Nigeria’s security challenges, failed abysmally, as insecurity heightened under his watch.

In 2022, then Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola said the federal government had identified 100 high-risk financiers of Boko Haram in its fight against the menace.

Aregbesola who made the revelation at the third Ministerial Conference on Counter-Terrorism Financing, with the theme, “No Money for Terror,” said the financiers had links to at least 10 countries of the world.

Before then, precisely in March 2021, former presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu had said the federal government arrested operators of 400 Bureaux De Change for allegedly funding the Boko Haram insurgency in the country. He said the suspects had been transferring money to the terrorists.

After the revelation, Nigerians asked the Buhari government to disclose the identities of the suspects, a request the government repeatedly ignored. Presidential adviser, Femi Adesina said the Buhari administration was not interested in naming and shaming the financiers of terrorism but in their prosecution.

The then Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had also said the government would not name and shame the suspected financiers of terrorism before their trial.

While the issue still raged on in Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal Court of Appeals in Abu Dhabi convicted six Nigerians – Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad – for transferring $782,000 from Dubai to Boko Haram in Nigeria.  

While Adamu and Muhammad were sentenced to life imprisonment for violations of UAE anti-terrorism laws, Musa, Yusuf, Isa, and Alhassan were sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by deportation. 

Before the commendable feat of the UAE authorities, some Nigerians and security agencies in the country had on many occasions raised the alarm that foreign countries could be behind the sponsorship of the deadly group.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa asked the United Nations to investigate the funding and training of the Boko Haram terrorists. Musa expressed concerns about how international non-governmental organisations operated in conflict zones, particularly in the North-east, where Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgents were active. 

Musa’s call on the international community for investigation came in the wake of new tactics by Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists, who were now deploying drones for surveillance ahead of attacks on security operatives. He wondered how the terrorists could sustain themselves for 15 years, just as he accused some foreign countries of conspiring to sustain the terrorists with funds, training and equipment.

Musa, who suspected international conspiracy, said he did not know what they wanted to achieve by destabilising Nigeria.

“Let’s find out the funding. As we speak, over 120,000 Boko Haram members have surrendered, and most of them came with hard currency. How did they get it? How are they funded? How did they get the training? How did they get the equipment?

“The UN needs to come in because we need to trace the funding. It is an international flow, and we don’t have control over that. How are they able to sustain themselves for 15 years? That is one question I think everybody should ask themselves.”

On a few occasions, the Borno State government had also expressed worries over the operations of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the fight against the insurgents, suspecting that they were actually fuelling Boko Haram activities.

The federal government should not downplay or dismiss Perry’s allegations.

The government should mandate the offices of the National Security Adviser (NSA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), and Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate the veracity or otherwise of the weighty and worrisome claims.

Commendably, the National Assembly has intervened in the matter of urgent national importance, with the Senate summoning top security and intelligence chiefs for explanations regarding Perry’s claims. The US Congress has also launched an investigation into the matter.

Nigerians can only hope that the probe will uncover the sources of funding that sustained Boko Haram for 15 years.