Six Nigerians Convicted In UAE Over Boko Haram Funding
Six Nigerians have been convicted by an Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal in the United Arab Emirates over alleged funding of Boko Haram.
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 10 years imprisonment each.
The convicts, according to a court judgment were tried and convicted in 2019.
The court judgment also showed that between 2015 and 2016, the convicts were involved in different cash transfers allegedly in favour of Boko Haram to the tune of $782,000 even as those close to them said the transactions were for legitimate purposes.
Our correspondents report that for the past 11 years, the issue of Boko Haram funding had remained mysterious and different theories advanced by prominent personalities and groups.
This was probably the first time certain individuals were identified albeit outside the shores of Nigeria.
A senior government official confirmed that they were aware of the case.
However, families of those affected told newsmen that the victims were “framed up” considering that they had been doing legitimate bureau de change business in the UAE before their arrest.
The conviction of the six suspects was said to have been upheld by the appellate court in the UAE after they lost an appeal earlier filed at a lower court.
According to the judgment, all the accused were charged with funding a terror group (Boko Haram) by facilitating transfers of money from Dubai to Nigeria for alleged terror operations.
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, documents seen by this paper showed.
Court documents seen by Daily Trust indicate 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.
The accused were said to have been 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.
Thereafter, interrogation files were prepared for each of them.
